His fight with Thiago Alves for me is the highlight of UFC 90 and I am expecting a really hard fought war, this is going to be a fight of neutrition. I'm not sure who will win this and expect it to go to the judges with both men a little battered and bloody. This fight at for the WW's will tell us lots and not only do I think it will be an exciting fight but one of importance...Can't wait.
Who is going to take this one guys???

Alves is going to Knock Out Diego Sanchez for the FIRST TIME in his career. To me Alves is just a bigger and stronger version of the El Dirty Sanchez!

I would love to see that happen, I just think that with the pressure that Diego puts on he is such a hard guy to beat. His wrestling is good and will be interesting to see it against the takedown defense of Alves. Alves has great striking but with the boxing of Sanchez getting better this is a real close fight.
Alves to me is a 60-40 fav...I cant see any guy stopping the other and will be very suprised if that happens. In fact I see it more likely that Sanchez will stop Alves with a sub or GnP rather than a KO by Alves.

During at the weigh ins, you'll see that Alves is a much bigger fighter and after the fight, Sanchez will want to drop to 155.

Yeah I imagine Diego going into the fight being quite smaller but I don't see it being a huge difference maker. Diego has great technique and his relentless attacks could be the difference maker. This fight to me is like the Mac Danzig Vs. Clay Guida fight. I do think that Alves is a more well rounded fighter but Diego is 1 of them guys who I can never count out. His only loses are to Fitch which was a close fight (split decision) and Josh Koscheck which was a really dull boring fight which I could have fallen asleep in so I think the real Diego didn't show up.

Diego at 155lbs Hmmmm, intersting. He probably could make the weight but for me is a more natural WW than LW.
Has he fought at 155lb before do any of you know?

Dirty Sanchez has never fought at 155lb but after he lost to Fitch he was contemplating... :)

His loss to Fitch is nothing he should be ashamed about, Fitch is easily one of the best WW's in the world not to mention that Fitch only beat him on a split decision. Don't get me wrong at 155 he would be a fucking beast...aslong as he didn't burn himself out cutting the extra weight anyway. He is good enough at WW to where he can compete with pretty much anyone in the world. Win or Lose against Alves as long as he puts on a good display I would say his future would be better at 170 rather than potentially killing himself to get down to 155. IMO anyway!

Doesn't matter now, Dirty Sanchez backed out of the fight due to injuries. Koscheck steps in to fight Alves. This one should be interesting, hopefully Koscheck will be ready for the fight and make it interesting.

Thats a pity, I was really looking forward to seeing Sanchez take on a world class striker. Kos is a good game opponent though and I think this will be a good fight. Sanchez is definatly 1 of them fighters who I think wouldn't pull out of a fight if he didn't need to.

Still wrestler Vs. Striker but Alves BJJ will be more useful to him against Kos than Sanchez but Kos has better wrestling IMO. Expect this to be a good fight still. Really would like to see Alves KO Kos or at least stop him.

it is ironic. I was looking back to the days when the pit bull was seen as a C-D level fighter, now in a few short years he has jumped up to the top of the heap for contenders. I mean pretty much a GSP match up is in his future, everyone has to see that!

^^^^^
I agree with that loads kens...Alves is worthy of a title shot for definate. If he had his fight with Diego it would be the only logical fight for him (only because Fitch has had his title fight or a rematch would have been in line for Fitch and Alves).
Diego would have been a fantastic set up for a title fight but when you look at Kos and his wins and improvement he too is a real good set up to a title fight. If Alves does win it is almost impossible for him not to be considered number 1 contender. Just hope he manages to fight GSP as that fight would interest me more than a BJ fight, not that BJ Vs. Alves would be a bad fight either though.

I think Kos has a better chance of beating Alves than Sanchez has against Alves for two reasons. First, Kos training partner, Fitch, has beaten Alves already. Alves may have gotten better and retooled but the apple doesn't fall too far from tree. Fitch has the inside scoop to beating Alves and imho Kos is a better wrestler than Fitch! Secondly, Kos has beaten Sanchez already.

Kos should be able to take Alves down but if Kos decides to stand and bang then he is in for a rude awakening.

I agree that Kos training with Fitch was has beaten Alves will be a big plus for him, not so sure about Kos being more able to beat Alves though. Sanchez has better subs than Kos and if Alves is going to be stopped in a fight it would be more likely to be to a sub of some kind.
Kos is a great wrestler and prob a little better than Fitch but it was the complete MMA package that Fitch has that beat Alves.
Alves is a much better fighter now with more wrestling tools to make it a tough night of takedowns for Kos. I do expect Kos to get a takedown or 2 against Alves but it's how much damage he can do when he gets him there. I don't expect Kos to come out with a very obvious all be it very smart strategy...out wrestle the striker. Easier said than done, just ask Hughes and Karo...

I rate this fight as Alves 65 - 35 Fav....IMHO anyway! not far off the Diego Alves fight which I gave 60 - 40 to Alves.