Thiago Alves- What We Know
Alves is an excellent muay thai striker with great defensive wrestling. Matt Hughes was able to get him down only once and he defended very well and Josh Koscheck wasn't able to get him down at all. He also possesses some brutal digging leg kicks that can suck the life out of a fighter. Has nice head movement and is very aggressive. Can take punishment, also has a nasty leg kick-straight punch combination. Can go a full hard 3 rounds(5 rounds we don't know) and totally dominated a high caliber fighter like Josh Koscheck in those three rounds. Is huge for welterweight and sometimes has trouble making weight. Has won 7 fights in a row.
Georges St. Pierre- What We Know
An absolute freak of nature, the consensus best wrestler in MMA even though he has no amateur wrestling background. Faster than most lightweights, the way he passes a fighter's guard is unbelievable. Using simple first-day techniques with such force and speed that even high-level jiu-jitsu players can't stop it. No one has been able to stop GSP from taking them down and its hard to imagine Thiago Alves will be the first. GSP uses tremendous footwork and angles in his striking along with that incredible quickness. He is way past any of the problems in his mental game from previous years. Can go a full hard 5 rounds. Is on the level of Fedor Emelianenko and Anderson Silva.
The Verdict
I like GSP to take Alves down and beat him up from there, eventually stopping him somewhere around the 3rd round. Yoda(Greg Jackson) will lay out a perfect game plan and GSP will not stray from it, I just don't think Thiago is on the level of a GSP yet.
