The two stand and bang to start the fight, Alves lands a good left jab, and lands a hook as Fitch goes for a leg kick. Fitch goes to a takedown, picks up Alves and slams him down and immediately secures his back against the cage. Fitch hooks the leg and secures double underhooks. Alves uses his strength to stand and the two are against the cage. Alves uses the cage to prevent Fitch from doing anything catestrophic, but seems to become complacent and gets slammed with Fitch in a pseudo-side control.
Fitch makes a mental mistake and Alves lifts and lands on top in half guard, but at two minutes isn't doing anything from the top position. Fitch gets him int ohis guard and then the two stands. Alves wisely backs up from the upkicks and allows Fitch to stand with a minute twenty left in the round. Fitch closes the distance and lands some strikes in the clinch, including a knee, but Alves comes back with a strong left hook. Fitch takes it and delivers several body shots that clearly did damage to a Alves. The first stuffed takedown occurs as Fitch feints a jab and shoots. Alves clinches against the cage and Fitch spins and powers him to the ground. The round ends. A surprisingly entertaining round in a Jon Fitch fight, the Bay Area native clearly took the first round.
Fitch lands a good right hook off a Thiago Alves leg kick, but Alves responds with a solid left jab. Fitch ducks a hook and secures a takedown, Alves tries for a guiotine but lets off. Fitch stands and delivers two solid punches to the grounded Alves, and Alves backs into the cage, trying to use it to get back to his feet. Fitch once again powers him over. The two lay for awhile and Alves begins to get back up, but Fitch throws him onto his side again, delivering knees to the back of his legs.
Two times Alves gets up against the cage, and two more times Jon Fitch drags him down. Alves rolls and gets him into the sprawl position, and then backs up, letting Fitch stand. Alves lands a couple jabs but Fitch recovers nicely. The two clinch against the cage and the round ends. Fitch clearly takes the second.
The two take the center of the octagon and Fitch lands a good leg kick. Thiago pushes the pace but doesn't land much. Thus far, Fitch has looked better both on the mat and standing up, if only being a little tentative to strike, which is entirely understandable. Fitch lands a good knee from the clinch and Alves lands an uppercut before the two back up. Alves lands a good headkick and then defends a takedown. Alves lands some more hits and the two take the center of the octagon again. Fitch gets Thiago against the cage and secures a takedown and gets the leg hook in back mound. Thiago wants to turn and give him half guard to defend against the choke and Fitch rains down a few punches that land clean.
With two minutes left in the fight, Fitch rolls over onto his back with the body triangle on Alves.Thiago is trying to defend the submission and does a good job of it. Fitch begins to lock in an arm triangle with a minute fifteen left and Fitch cranks it. A minute left now and Alves looks uncomfortable but not in too much danger. Thiago rolls over and gets top control, using the cage for leverage. The two stand and the fight is over.
Jon Fitch wins the fight by unanimous decision.
Bloody Elbow has their live blog of the event here and a recap of this fight here.