Thiago Alves vs. John Howard targeted for UFC 124

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Well, you can't always get what you want.

One day after Thiago Alves (17-7 MMA, 9-4 UFC) welcomed a fight with Mike Pierce, who on Tuesday called him out on MMAjunkie.com Radio, the former contender is now expected to meet John Howard (14-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) at UFC 124.

Sources close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that verbal agreements are in place and contracts will be sent out shortly.

While not yet officially announced by the promotion, UFC 124 is expected to take place Dec. 11 at the Bell Centre in Montreal and feature a welterweight title fight between current champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Josh Koscheck, who coach opposite each another on "The Ultimate Fighter 12." It's the promotion's fourth trip to the Canadian city.

Alves is looking for redemption after his most recent performance. The American Top Team standout met perennial contender Jon Fitch at UFC 117 this past August and lost a unanimous decision. Added to the sting of defeat was his struggle to make weight for the contest. He showed up one pound over and was fined 20 percent of his fight purse by commission officials.

Alves appeared flat and tired throughout the three-round contest, his first fight in more than a year after multiple medical issues twice delayed the fight, a rematch of a 2006 contest in which Fitch took home a TKO victory. Afterward, UFC president Dana White chastised Alves for missing weight and not-so-subtly hinted that the Brazilian would be moving up a weight class to middleweight.

But Alves said he would be at a competitive disadvantage in the middleweight division, and he subsequently convinced the promotion to give him another shot at 170 pounds. He hired nutritionist Mike Dolce and said Wednesday that he is walking around at 193 pounds, much lighter than his usual "off-season" weight of 205 pounds.

Howard was most recently seen at UFC on Versus 2 this past month and left unfinished business inside the octagon when he met Jake Ellenberger. After some successful exchanges, Ellenberger took the fight down and landed several elbows that caused Howard's left eye to rapidly swell. Doctors intervened in the third round when it became clear Howard couldn't see and the TKO victory went to Ellenberger.

Prior to the setback, Howard was on the ramp up the 170-pound class with four consecutive wins, including a thunderous KO victory over Daniel Roberts that earned him a "Knockout of the Night" at UFC on Versus 1.

A win over Alves would undoubtedly put Howard on the fast track to contendership.

For more on UFC 124, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.

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this should be a stand up war and i got alves taking it by tko

What happened to Mike Pierce?

i think that was just a rumor, since Pierce was calling Alves out saying how he did better against Fitch than him.

Good fight for Thaigo to rebuild his confidence.

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@danawhite for my 30th bday wish I want a fight with Thiago Alves. Maybe in Dec so he has time to make the cut.
about 17 hours ago via MOTOBLUR

Mike Pierce asking Dana for a fight with Thiago via Twitter.

I love Thiago but I definitely dont see this as a gimmie for him at all. Howard is very explosive and could easily land a big shot and win this fight.

When are John Howard and Rumble gonna finally go at it? They hate each other.

Who knows when Rumble is even going to fight again and it probably won't be at WW anyway

They need to release rumble and let him get some fights in smaller shows.

I like this fight cause I want to see how well Howard does against Alves. My first thought is Alves will stuff a few takedowns and KO Howard but who knows, it's a great way to see if Howard can run with the big dogs at WW.