Thiago Alves Might Make Weight After All

As of 2 p.m. PST on Tuesday, UFC welterweight contender Thiago Alves said he weighed 183 lbs…With thirteen pounds to go, Alves looked relieved, and the UFC felt the same. “That’s really good for me,” he told MMAWeekly. “Usually I get here (at) 188, 189, and I’m amazed with myself. 183, I’m like whoa. Everybody from the UFC was like, wow, I can’t believe it.”

Alves said a hellish training camp put him on track. “I’ve just been doing what I’m supposed to do more professionally,” he said. “No cheating on myself, things like that. Before, (it was like), ah, I’m going to skip one day. It would always catch up with me later on. I’d leave everything to the last minute.”

Of course, the stakes are a lot higher for this one. Alves already missed weight (by a whopping four pounds) against Matt Hughes at UFC 85, and was suspended eight months for using the diuretic spironolactone to make weight for his UFC 66 fight with Tony DeSouza. Your first-ever title shot during the UFC’s most historic event is no time to become a three-time loser. It’s time to be a professional or move up to middleweight where you can have that occasional giant rack of pork.