Thiago Alves
Bio/Career
Thiago Alves was born in Fortaleza, Brazil. He was introduced to Muay Thai as a teenager as a means of getting into better shape. At just 15 years old, he secured his first amateur MMA victory and at 19 headed to the US to Florida to train with the prestigious American Top Team.
Thiago Alves made his UFC debut on his 22nd birthday at UFC Fight Night 2 against fellow newcomer Spencer Fisher. Despite showing promise early in the fight, Alves would find himself caught in Fisher's triangle choke in the 2nd round.
Learn the striking secrets of this UFC welterweight!
In his next UFC bout at UFC 56 he would defeat Ansar Chalangov by TKO in the first round. Up until that point Chalangov had not been defeated.
UFC 59 would have Thiago Alves matched up with a fighter he had lost to in Derrick Noble. Thiago Alves was able to weather a blitzkrieg of strikes from Noble and land a perfectly timed counter that would drop his opponent and earn him another TKO victory.
At UFC Fight Night 5, Thiago Alves was matched with fellow welterweight contender Jon Fitch who would land an upkick flush to the face of Alves and lead to a Jon Fitch TKO victory in the second round. In his next few UFC matches, he would defeat John Alessio, Tony DeSouza, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, and Chris Lyte.
After these fights, he would face his biggest competition to date in judo expert Karo Parisyan. The Pitbull Thiago Alves was able to land a knee kick to the head that debilitated Parisyan and led to the fight being finished with strikes on the ground.
Thiago Alves solidified his place as a welterweight contender in his next few fights with victories over the heavily favored UFC Welterweight champion Matt Hughes and standout wrestler Josh Koshcheck.
Explode into your strikes with Pitbull's help!
The seven fight win streak that he had put together defeating the likes of Parisyan, Hughes and Koscheck earned him a shot at then champion Georges St Pierre.
Unfortunately, Georges superior wrestling skills helped him take Thiago down a total of 10 times during that match, leading to a unanimous victory for St. Pierre.
Thiago Alves would go on to fight for the UFC fifteen more times earning 6 more victories. Injuries would derail many of the latter matches for the organization. In 2017, Thiago Alves became striking coach for American Top Team and he is currently working on becoming a law enforcement officer in Florida.
Thiago Alves Techniques
Hook Defense The Block
Being able to block the opponent's strikes effectively creates more opportunities for effective counter attacks.
Outside Low Kick
Understanding the mechanics of the techniques is crucial to perfect execution. Here Thiago Alves breaks down the outside low kick.
Counter Jab With Body Kick
Understanding how to use offensive techniques to counter attack your opponent can help you increase your strike percentages and break down the opponent's defenses.
With nearly 40 MMA fights against some of the highest level competition in the UFC, Thiago "Pitbull" Alves is uniquely prepared to share with you the secrets of Explosive Striking. As a current striking Coach for American Top Team, his job is to help develop and perfect the skills of the next generation of MMA stars. You can learn directly from Pitbull by grabbing a copy of Explosive Striking here or at the link below.
