Thiago Alves

Thiago Alves, the MMA fighter (not the tennis player, yes there is a tennis player with the same name) is nicknamed "Pitbull." At 15 years old, Thiago stared starting Muay Thai and 2 years after that, he started learning mixed martial arts. At 25 years old, he has a lot of experience under his belt and has defeated some big names such as Matt Hughes with a TKO in June of 2008. Fighting out of Brazil, Alves won his first fight at the age of 18 against a 31-year old opponent. Though the Pitbull won be unanimous decision, he was able to take down someone which much more experience than him. Alves trains out of American Top Team academy in Coconut Creek, Florida where some other fighters also train, such as Mike Thomas Brown.

Thiago got his start in the UFC after receiving an invitation in fight on the show The Ultimate Fighter 2. The fight took place against Spencer Fisher on Thiago's 22nd birthday. Unfortunantely, Alves did not receive the gift of winning that day as he lost from a triangle choke by Fisher. Surprisingly he lost the fight with his background and experience with Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

He continued to defeat some UFC fighters such as Ansar Chalangov and Derrick Noble but lost to Jon Fitch. There was some controversy surrounding Thiago when he was suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commision and fined for $5,500 for failing a drug test. He tested positive for spironolactone, which was used to help him lose water weight to put him under 170 lbs for his fight against Tony DeSouza, which Alves won.

On July 11, 2009, there wil be a long-awaited fight with Thiago Alves against Georges St. Pierre (GSP). The winner of that match will be titled the UFC Welterweight Championship. It should be an exciting match as both fighters are athletic and matched up. Although Alves is relatively young, he will put up a great fight against the Canadian GSP. This should be one of the most anticipated fights for the summer of 2009.

Fight History

Rashad Evans

At 29 years old and with a professional record of 13 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw, Rashad Evans is one of the best pound-for-pound MMA fighters. He started off his career on the reality show, The Ultimate Fighter 2 on Spike TV. He was deemed an underdog in most of the fights on the show because he was the shortest and second lightest of all the 9 competitors for that season. Rashad overcame the adversities and defeated Tom Murphy, Mike Whitehead, and Keith Jardine. He went on to become the winner on the Ultimate Fighter show by defeating Brad Imes by split decision. The winner received a three-year six figure contract with the UFC and a brand new car.

Nicknamed as "Sugar," Rashad trains out of Albuquerue, New Mexico with Jackson's Submissiong Fighting which is run by Greg Jackson. During the show The Ultimate Fighter, Evans was fighting at 5' 11" and 225 lbs. After that show, he dropped down to 205 lbs to fight in the light heavyweight division proving that he would have more success in a lower weight class. He proved that successful by knocking out some of the top fighters in the world such as Chuck Liddell in UFC 88 - Breakthrough. Liddell was knocked out hard by Evans and he laid unconscious for several minutes before finally walking out of the cage on his own. Evans took the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship belt from Forrest Griffin in December 2008, but lost it in a fight with Lyoto Machida by a knockout.

Rashad has a great background in wrestling which helped him become a better fighter. He is one of only four people who have been able to defeat the wrestling legend Greg Jones while wrestling for Michigan State. Not only good at wreslting, Rashad Evans is a great striker too. He trains with Keith Jardine who used to be an opponent on The Ultimate Fighter. They are training partners and good friends since that show.

Fight History

Georges St-Pierre

Georges "Rush" St-Pierre was born on May 19,1981. He is well known as "GSP". GSP is a qualified mixed martial artist of Canadian nationality.

He started martial arts when he was six, doing Kyokushin karate. When he started training for MMA, he started wrestling with the national team and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Nova Uniao. He is now trained in wrestling, BJJ, Muay Thai, and boxing. His MMA hero is Randy Couture. Before starting fighting he was a student.

He is the Welterweight Champion of the UFC, and his current rank is one of the top three "pound-for-pound" fighters by multiple MMA sources. St-Pierre has been lauded by many media channels for his skill, and he is now ranked by several MMA publications as the number-one welterweight worldwide. In 2008, he was called the Canadian Athlete of the Year by Rogers Sportsnet, and the Most Outstanding Fighter by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

He began learning Kyokushin karate at age 7 to protect himself from a school browbeat. He took up wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after his karate teacher’s death, and he also taught in boxing. Before becoming pro as a mixed-martial artist, St-Pierre worked as a bouncer at a Montreal night club in the South Shore known as Fuzzy Brossard and as a garbageman for 6 months to pay for his school fees.

St-Pierre has taught with several groups in a broad variety of gyms all through his fighting career. Former to his fight with B.J. Penn at UFC 58, he was trained at the Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in New York City. St-Pierre got his brown belt in BJJ from Renzo Gracie on July 21, 2006. In September 2008, St-Pierre received his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu below Bruno Fernandes.

In recent times, St-Pierre started training by Rashad Evans, Nathan Marquardt, Keith Jardine, and other trained MMA fighters at Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting Gaidojutsu school in New Mexico. A few of Jackson's students accompanied St-Pierre to Montreal to help train him for his fight at UFC 94 in opposition to B.J. Penn at the Tristar Gym, as well as Keith Jardine, Nathan Marquardt, Donald Cerrone, and Rashad Evans. Georges's vigor and conditioning coach is Jonathan Chaimberg of Adrenaline Performance Centre in Montréal. Georges's Chief Trainer is Firas Zahabi of Zahabi MMA, out of the Tristar gym. The two have cornered all of St-Pierre's current bouts, and remain as his loving friends. Presently, St-Pierre trains in Muay Thai under Phil Nurse on the Wat in New York City.

Fight History

Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin was born on July 1, 1979 in Columbus, Ohio. He is an American mixed martial artist. Griffin is currently fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion and was a past UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He is currently ranked #2 in light heavyweight fighter in the world by Sherdog, and #3 by MMAWeekly.

He has passed his graduation degree of B.A. in Political Science from University Of Georgia- Major. Griffin’s victory during the first season of Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter" helped bring the then-fledgling sport into the mainstream. He started training for fighting in 2000, in the police academy. Griffin admire guys like Randy (Couture) and Chuck (Liddell) for their work ethic and the way they balance their lives and training. Before he started fighting, his job was Police officer, student.

Griffin firstly became famous by participating in the first-season of Spike TV the Ultimate Fighter, a mixed martial arts reality show. On top of the show, he achieved the finals where he defeated Stephan Bonnar by unanimous decision. The fight was qualified by Dana White as the "most important fight in UFC history" and the fight that brought the UFC into the mainstream. For endearing the competition he was given a six-figure professional contract to fight with the UFC.

On April 15, 2006, Griffin took on his toughest opponent still when he fought previous light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 59, in which he lost a controversial split decision. In spite of his loss on the judges scorecards he won over the fans with his power to withstand everything that Tito could throw at him.

At UFC 62, Griffin fought Stephan Bonnar in a replay from their former epic fight. Griffin won by unanimous judgment, sweeping all three rounds. The fight was not as volatile as their earlier encounter but was quiet an exciting bout.

Griffin was then conquered by Ultimate Fighter 2 semifinalist Keith Jardine at UFC 66 by means of TKO at 4:41 of the first round. After the fight, a clearly distressed Griffin sat in his corner crying. Moments later, he left from Joe Rogan attempt to interview him. Griffin then walked off camera, exiting Joe Rogan to talk to the camera by himself. A bit later, Griffin reappeared heading the contradictory direction and said that he will be back, as he headed out of the Octagon.

Griffin's next fight was assumed to be at UFC 70 in opposition to Lyoto Machida on April 21, 2007 but he was not capable to fight due to a staph infection.

On June 16, 2007 Griffin conquered Hector Ramirez at UFC 72 in Belfast, Northern Ireland by means of unanimous decision. Griffin won a unaminous decision by all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 to Griffin.

At UFC 76, Griffin fought opposed to PRIDE’s 2005 Middleweight (205 lb) Grand Prix champion Mauricio “Shogon” Rua. Then, Shogun was ranked the #1 light heavyweight fighter in the world by some MMA publications. It has since been reported that Griffin needed surgery after the fight because of a shoulder injury that was chronic before the spell. It has also been reported that this shoulder has been a chronic problem for Griffin.

Fight History