The UFC has announced a change to next weekend's UFC 90 card, with Josh Koscheck now scheduled to fight Thiago Alves in a very good welterweight match-up.
Alves was previously scheduled to fight Diego Sanchez, but Sanchez withdrew because he suffered torn rib cartilage in training. From UFC.com:
"There is nothing worse than having a great fight and then having one of the fighters drop out at the last second," said UFC President Dana White. "But the one thing the UFC has proven time and time again is our ability to replace fights with ones as good as or better than the original fight, and we've done it again with the highly-ranked Josh Koscheck stepping up to replace Diego Sanchez against welterweight wrecking machine Thiago Alves. Hats off to Josh and Thiago, as not many fighters would agree to a matchup this tough on such short notice."
Koscheck vs. Alves is a tremendous fight in the 170-pound division, in my opinion a better fight than Sanchez vs. Alves, and it's a testament to the depth of UFC's welterweight class that they were able to find such a good replacement for Sanchez on such short notice.
Alves told UFC.com, "Josh Koscheck is a great fighter and I think he's an even better matchup for me. I'm looking forward to fighting him, and I'm gonna knock him out."
Koscheck told UFC.com, "I think he's a tough opponent. He's on a tear right now in the UFC and for me to step up and fight him, I think it's gonna be an exciting fight. I've been in training since Chris Lytle, I haven't taken any time off, and he's a tough guy, so I've got to come in and fight him at my 'A' game."
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Koscheck has nine wins in the Octagon, and he's won seven of his last eight, with the only loss coming by decision to welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre. Alves is on a six-fight winning streak and just beat Matt Hughes for the biggest win of his career.
I like Alves to win a hard-fought decision.
