Props: MMA Fighting

Quoteworthy:

"I had a chance to look back at the situation. I know I have things to correct ... It was just a half-pound, so I'm sure my body could have flushed it out. But I didn't want to. I just wanted to concentrate on the fight. It was just easier for me to give up the money. Yes, we fight for money, but you also fight to win, and at the time, I was thinking I didn't want to cut the weight. I was just focused on getting ready to fight. When you're cutting weight and dehydrated, you don't always think right. In the future, that won't happen again. It can't happen again ... I appreciate the support I've gotten. When things like this happen, you see people's true colors. I don't care about the people who've turned their backs on me. I just focus on the ones who appreciate me. That's what's important to me and I won't let them down. I'm going to take this thing to the next level. I'm going to make it happen. I know what I've been through and I see things clearly now. Nothing's holding me back."

Former UFC welterweight number one contender Thiago Alves is ready to put his weight cutting issues behind him after coming in slightly over the limit for 170-pound scrap with Jon Fitch at the UFC 117 event on Aug. 7 in Oakland, California. "Pitbull" insists he belongs at welterweight, but has had a difficult time proving it. Even promotion president Dana White is pushing for a move to middleweight. Has the Brazilian put his demons behind him? And can he recover from back-to-back losses and get back into the division title hunt?