UFC 118 Preview: The Prelims

Mike Pierce vs. Amilcar Alves

The true tragedy of the prelim slate is the fact that the welterweight bout between Pierce and Alves isn’t slated for live television. Whoever wins this fight will be someone not to be taken lightly in the uber-competitive 170-pound division.

Pierce’s 2-1 UFC record -- with his lone loss being a competitive decision dropped to Jon Fitch -- already has many regarding him as a long-term winner, but questions still abound over whether or not he should be fighting in the lightweight division. Alves will, at bare minimum, be a solid barometer of that notion as he’s a legitimate welterweight with Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills that made him one of Brazil’s premier prospects. The question is whether or not he’ll be able to get anything going against Pierce’s suffocating top game.

While no one is about to confuse Pierce with a monster ground-and-pounder, he can get just enough offense going to keep himself from getting stood up. Alves has never dealt with someone capable of not only grounding him, but shutting him down altogether. That right there is why the underdog steam fueling the hype on Alves makes so little sense -- he’s never had to deal with someone who won’t roll around with him.

Few things are as frustrating to a prospect as facing a world-class fighter who won’t fight on their terms. Considering Alves lacks a second dimension outside his legitimately nasty ground game, this fight plays perfectly to what Pierce does. Hitting the floor with Pierce and pinning your hopes on ensnaring a submission is a bad strategy and it’s one that will hand Alves a unanimous decision loss.