Weighty Issue—Thiago Alves

Another weighty issue was raised at Saturday's UFC 85 "Bedlam" when Thiago Alves fought and beat veteran Welterweight Matt Hughes in a 'catch-weight' bout after failing to make weight by four pounds. 

Predictably, Thiago beat Hughes at the beginning of the second round by catching Hughes with a knee to the head and shoulder as Hughes tried to shoot for a take-down. 

Knowing that Hughes is well known for his grappling ability and was probably going to go for a take-down, Thiago timed his attack with perfection to knock Hughes to the ground. His left knee awkwardly extended to the side.

Hughes' injuries included a cut on his nose which required stitches in his dressing room, the wrenching knee injury which caused him to walk gingerly out of the ring favoring it slightly, and a significant blow to his ego.

"I have two boys watching this at home and a seventeen-month-old girl who will watch it someday," he said.

While celebrating his victory in the ring post fight, Alves asked Dana White for a title shot, stating "I've been a good boy..."  

The title he referred to would belong to the winner of the UFC 87 welterweight match between either Georges St. Pierre (as most are predicting to win), or challenger Jon Fitch. 

My question is how has Mr. Alves determined that he "has been good" enough to deserve a title shot after coming in overweight for the main event with Hughes?

On February 3, 2007 Travis Lutter failed to make weight for the main event Middleweight fight with the much-revered Anderson Silva and was ridiculed and reviled by fight fans the world over for this lapse in judgement and poor fighting etiquette.

So how does Thiago overlook his similar lapse in failing to make weight to fight equally revered and probable Hall Of Famer Matt Hughes?  "Good boy" or "bad seed," who will determine?

Testing positive for Spironolactone. a diuretic, after his December 30, 2006 victory against Tony DeSouza indicates that there has been a similar concern in the past for Alves. 

He did make weight several times after that and did have an excuse of having a sprained ankle and being unable to run and work off the weight this time (although other than wearing an elastic ankle support, there was nothing to indicate the presence of any injury in the way he walked, fought, or moved during the fight).

Has Thiago Alves done enough and is he deserving of a title fight with no repercussions for his weight problem? 

Will Dana White grant this title shot?

Personally, I hope not.  Another fight against the loser of the Georges St. Pierre-Jon Fitch fight would seem more appropriate to me.