UFC 124 Fight Card: What John Howard Must Do To Beat Thiago Alves

This Saturday, the UFC will look to make an impact once again in the Great White North as UFC 124 comes to the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Headlined by a rematch between Georges St-Pierre and Josh Koscheck, one that will see them fight for the UFC Welterweight Title this time around, the overall card carries bouts in four of the company's five original weight classes, with only the talent-rich Light Heavyweight division unrepresented at this star-studded event.

As this card was mostly formed before the UFC/WEC Merger, it should come as no surprise that the two new divisions (Bantamweight and Featherweight) will not be represented.

Besides, the main card opens with Thiago Alves facing John Howard, so you tell me where the boredom lies in a bout that could be a Fight Of The Night candidate.

The fact is, Alves' whole game is his striking: his Muay Thai, his punches, his kicks... everything, really, and while Howard does have some wrestling prowess, Howard basically called Alves out on his striking, DARING the Brazilian to stand with him.

If Alves's takedown defense is as good as I believe it will be, then all Howard will have to do is come out the more aggressive striker from the onset and send a few heavy blows the way of Alves, right?

Well, of course...except I don't think all is necessarily lost if Howard somehow can't outstrike Alves, the latter of whom I see actually making weight but still not providing much in the way of takedown defense.

Howard definitely needs to justify the bold challenge he made to Alves and prove that he's the more superior striker, but he also needs to realize that there's more than one way to finish Alves without necessarily outstriking him.

In other words, he needs to take the fight to the ground: seemingly not an easy task with a guy the size of Alves, but Howard will manage to take Alves down regardless of how effective the takedown is.

We've seen in the past when takedown artists are thought to have won the round due to scoring a takedown despite the actual takedown looking rather ineffective.

That could be the case in this fight, but if Howard relies solely on one clean-landing shot, he'll leave himself open to one of Alves' highlight-reel shots.

All Howard has to do is try to mix his Wrestling with his striking, and if he can do that, he could very easily collar the Pitbull.