Fantasy #1 Contender Semi-Finals: #1 Thiago Alves vs. #12 Dustin Hazelett

The UFC Welterweight Division has a plethora of young talent, a dominating champion, and many exciting match ups to choose from, but the one thing they lack is a true number one contender.  I doubt the UFC would ever put together a welterweight tournament to determine a true number one contender (oh do I hope to be wrong), but we at WKR can have our own virtual (we're dorks, deal with it) tournament.  The bracket and rankings have been set and it is time to begin the tournament.  Let your vote choose who wins the most prestigious, meaningless, fake, yet enjoyable UFC Welterweight number 1 contender tournament.

The Semi-Finals are upon us and while Alves and Fitch cake walked through the second round the story of round 2 was the Mike Swick/Dustin Hazelett match up.  Racking up a 162 total votes they split 81 a piece and had to go into extra day of voting.  The 1 and 2 seeds have made, but we have two underdogs in the semis as the 12 and 14 seed have advanced as well.

The next match up is between #1 ranked Thiago Alves and #12 Dustin Hazelett.  Fighter details after the jump.

Thiago Alves 22-6 (9-3 UFC): We know who Thiago Alves is.  He is creative and powerful striker who uses his strength to dominate his opponents.  Despite losing a 5 round decision to the champ most consider him a top 3 welterweight in the world.  He will definitely have to win some fights to get another shot, but my guess is he eventually gets another crack at GSP (only to lose again).  Against Hazelett he is the stronger fighter with a significant advantage on the feet.  Alves did not look so good on his back against GSP, but he is a decent fighter on the mat.  Can he keep the fight standing and prevent the submissions if the fight heads to the mat?

Dustin Hazelett 12-4 (UFC 5-2): Dustin's wild ride continues.  He has pulled off two upsets so far in the tournament beating the two men who were supposed to be in the real number contender bout; Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann.  Swick pulled out due to injury (that's what she said) and Kampmann lost to Daley.  Dustin has an incredible jiu-jitsu game and is one of the most exciting submission experts in the UFC, but he is coming off a major injury.  Does he have the ability to get the fight to the ground and capture the "W" against Alves?

#2 Jon Fitch vs. #14 Anthony Johnson