Thiago Alves says he’s now a wrestler

Thiago Alves was the number one welterweight contender until he was dismantled and derailed by champ Georges St. Pierre at UFC 100. But according to a new interview with Tatame, Alves has been reborn (not in an “I’ve found Jesus” kind of way) and rebuilt (not in an Oscar Goldman/Steve Austin kind of way):

“You’re gonna see a different Pitbull. You didn’t see my wrestling and my ground game, because I didn’t have an opportunity to use it, and I feel that my career started after this last fight… I grew up a lot as a person and as a fighter, I’m recharged and I’ll get what I want, the belt. I’ll fight at December 5. I have an opponent, but I can’t say yet.”

Okay, so the Muay Thai stylist whose strikes GSP parried rather easily and whom GSP took to the ground at will has suddenly become a great wrestler? Or is he saying he was a good wrestler even then but he didn’t use those skills against GSP for some reason? Maybe this is some sort of “fake it till you make it” philosophy.

Regardless, I wonder who Alves will face on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Finale? Jon Fitch, Marcus Davis, Dan Hardy, or maybe it will be Paulo Thiago whom Alves had been rumoured to face at UFC 107 on December 12.