Jon Fitch loses another opponent as Alves pulls out of UFC 107

Five Ounces of Pain is reporting that Thiago Alves has been forced to pull out of his UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez bout with Jon Fitch on December 12 due to an injury (a torn knee ligament, apparently).

This is the second opponent to drop out against Fitch in recent weeks. The welterweight contender was originally slated to meet former middleweight King of Pancrase Ricardo Almeida, who pulled out of their UFC 106 clash – also with a knee injury.

Word is that a replacement for Alves is being sought. Fitch has just one loss in 18 fights, to division champ Georges St. Pierre, and last fought at UFC 100, earning a unanimous decision over Paulo Thiago, who was originally scheduled to fight Alves at UFC 107 until Alves was moved into the vacating Almeida slot (got that?).

So who would you like to see sliding in against Fitch?

Here’s how UFC 107 now looks:

MAIN CARD

* Champ B.J. Penn vs. Diego Sanchez (for lightweight title)
* Cheick Kongo vs. Frank Mir
* Jon Fitch vs. TBA*
* Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida
* Paul Buentello vs. Todd Duffee

PRELIMINARY CARD

* Alan Belcher vs. Wilson Gouveia
* Shane Nelson vs. Matt Wiman
* Ricardo Funch vs. Johny Hendricks
* Lucio Linhares vs. Rousimar Palhares
* Edgar Garcia vs. DaMarques Johnson
* Kevin Burns vs. T.J. Grant