Its definatly going to be a great fight! My guess is, winner of this fight gets the next title shot.

Alves is going to beat Diego…I promise you that Alves will win this fight!

Diego is very small and couldnt take Luigi to the ground. Alves is like the biggest guy he will face and his takedown defense is gettings much better. Alves is very strong and will be able to keep the fight standing. Diego’s improved striking and his cocky ego will probably make him comfortable enough to exchange with Alves which will prove to be a huge Mistake.

Alves will TEST that mexican Jaw of Diego’s and I doubt that it will hold up.

Do you think Thiago will be able to take Diego’s pace? Thiago already has trouble making weight. I think Diego’s stand up is as good as Thiago’s. Its a bold statment to say “I promise” john.

I promised he would KO Hughes and Alves….this will be no different. Its not going to last 3 rounds. It wont make it out of the 2nd and Diego will not get him down so tyhe pace wont matter. on the ground Alves is improved, he trains with Maximus and tibau and other amazing ground guys like thiago Silva.

Punches or Knees are going to enjd this fight. Just like karo got his 1st KO loss at the hands oh thiago, now its Diego’s turn to get KTFO. Alves is only getting better and better. Hew knows that the only things stopping him from being a SERIOUS contender to the title are Takedown defense, Jits (defensive), cardio and weight, luckily those are all very correctable aspects of the fight game. Alves is going to the top and he will get a shot at GSP or Fitch

For someone to say that Diego’s stand up is just as good as Thiago’s is a braindead statement. Thiago is a one dimensional fighter, for the most part, and that is a devastating muay thai striker. The WORST part of Diego Sanchez’s game is his striking. The two are not even close.

Diego can not and will not win this fight standing and banging with Alves. However, Diego is going to have to trade with Thiago in order to secure a takedown. He can’t just shoot in from 8 feet out like Hughes was trying. He needs to throw a combination, get to the inside, and take him down with a judo-like trip. The faster the pace of this fight is at, advantage Diego.

Has anyone seen the early lines on this fight?

John:

One thing Diego has over Alves, intelligence.

He has that over Alves tenfold.

Diego is not stupid enough to think his stand up is better than Alves’. Diego will attack Alves’ weakest attribute. I’m not sure what that is but I’m sure Diego and his camp do.

Diego, more than most, is 1000% dedicated, committed, passionate about his career. He’ll will be watching video after video again and again of Alves to determine where to take the fight.

Diego also has more dimensions than Hughes.

This will be interesting but I certainly don’t see Alves ploughing through everyone he meets. I thnink Diego will bring him down to reality :)

Sounds like someone wants to dodge GSP at all costs.

Alves via strikes!

The only problem with pointing out that Diego couldn’t take Luigi down is that it also bears mentioning Diego won the stand-up and noone said that would happen.

It happens time and time again. Guys who are unquestionably better strikers get outstruck by inferior opponents. Reason being…they are put on the defensive and thinking about the sprawl to avoid the takedown. Diego can win the stand-up though at an extreme power disadvantage, but as soon as Thiago shows he isn’t waiting to sprawl and throws first, he will get taken down and beaten up.

While I like Thiago, I think the re-focused Diego wins this.

This is an awsome assesment, not sure if it will play out this way PJJ, but this explains everything perfectly.

Not to repeat myself on too many threads, but Diego is going to kick his tubby ass.

I like Diego but Alves will stuff his takedowns and kill him in the stand-up.

i think diego will have a better chance taking down alves than he did against luigi. luigi’s whole fight plan was to stuff the takedown and never put himself in position to win that fight. alves is different, he will be fighting to win not just survive and that could leave him more open to takedowns. diego is much more explosive at this point in his career than hughes is now and diego’s stand-up has gotten even better. i look for this to be a 3 rnd war and i can promise you diego has better cardio than thiago. it’s gonna be a great fight no matter what and i dont see either fighter steamrolling the other, but i do see diego winning this fight and fighting the winner of b.j/gsp (no disrespect to fitch). then diego might be in a little over his head.

Diego is going to get hammered sorry guys.

True, Diego is gonna receive the Hammer of God!

Thats too bad. I was really hoping to see someone slap another triangle on Herman. The guy needs to learn some submission defense.

You also have to remember that Sanchez has decent stand up. Nowhere near the best but he did KO’d Riggs out-cold with 1 punch.

BS he knocked Riggs down with one punch, then Riggs jumped to his feet and caught a knee followed by three more punches that put him out. Get it right

AND, you’re talking about Joe Riggs, who just headlined an event that was held on a coldesack (spelling?) and was in the main event against a kid with a record of 1-1.

Joe Riggs should just give up training, keep thanking God that Karo got injured and Dana somehow granted him a title shot, and balloon back up to 350 lbs as he sits on his couch watching Jerry Springer reruns.

Diego’s striking has gotten better, but when you compare evolution of Diego’s striking to the other TUF1 guys (Kenny, Forrest and Kos…) he is way behind them. Hell Kos had no striking at all and now can outclass Diego in that department. I’m starting to think maybe he just doesn’t have an aptitude for it or maybe he just rested on the ground game too long.

I don’t think kos has good stand up at all. he has quick hands but he still isn’t a great striker yet.

There was also the dieretics…the last time was for the biggest fight of his life. Two times when you’re a professional athlete isn’t acceptable especially when you miss it as much as he did last time.

that wasn’t a critic, I thought it was funny the way you wrote it as it had already happened.

My bad.

that makes sense, he is probably looking for another job.

He has to in my eyes the biggest let down of the TUF show.. The on the show was feared by just about everyone.. Then..I don’t know..his was so unimpressive ever since his first fight there.

Sorry… I think the last I heard was 6-8 months for Hughes. Not to worry, everyone else is fighting and active. As those fights happen and otheer people make their moves, he’ll move down. I’d say he’d be off everyone’s top ten list by Feb ’09.