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After Thiago Alves embarrassed himself yet again at UFC 117 by not making weight, there was a ton of talk that he would finally have to make the inevitable move up to Middleweight. Turns out he's made nice with Dana White and company and they've given him a matchup with John "Doomsday" Howard at UFC 124.
Mike Pierce was campaigning for a fight with Alves going so far as to tweet this to UFC president Dana White:
@danawhite for my 30th bday wish I want a fight with Thiago Alves. Maybe in Dec so he has time to make the cut.
Talking smack is usually a quick way to get a fight booked but it didn't work out for Pierce in this case. I should think that most fans are happy about that too. Pierce likes to use his wrestling to control his opponents. We've all seen the trouble Alves has had dealing with wrestlers. He won't have any problems like that when he fights John Howard. The leather that will by flying around in this fight is enough to make one's mouth water.