Meet Jon Fitch's New Opponent, Thiago Alves

Yesterday, news broke that Ricardo Almeida withdrew from his fight with Jon Fitch due to an injury. Fitch stated that he will "get a bigger better fight instead." Speculation immediately went to former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes.

However MMA Junkie breaks the news that Fitch will most likely fight Thiago Alves at UFC 107 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Alves was originally scheduled to fight Paulo Thiago at UFC 107. The removal of Paulo and the addition of Fitch certainly raises the profile of the welterweight fight and the UFC 107 fight card, which has taken some hits due to a reshuffling of the main event.

The fight also serves a dual purpose of elevating the winner into possible title contention while pushing the loser to the back of the welterweight pack. Considering that both fighters are ranked #2 and #3 respectively having them fight each other potentially opens the door for a new contender to challenge the top of the division.

Jon Fitch (19-3) and Thiago Alves (16-6) have fought before at Ultimate Fight Night 5 where Fitch defeated Alves via TKO in the second round.

Since that loss Alves has gone 7-1 with his one loss coming in a title fight against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 100. Fitch is also 7-1 since he fought Alves with his one loss also coming against St. Pierre.

Ironically this match-up was predicted by WKR's recent Welterweight Fantasy Tournament, which Fitch won. Now let's wait and see how accurate WKR's collective premonition ends up being.