ATTRIBUTES
|
ATTRIBUTE
|
RATING |
|---|---|
| Strength |
81
|
| Speed | 79 |
| Cardio | 75 |
| Footwork | 81 |
OFFENSIVE SKILLS
| SKILL | RATING |
|---|---|
| Standing Strikes | 82 |
| Standing Kicks | 85 |
| Clinch Striking |
81
|
| Ground Striking |
77
|
| Clinch Grapple |
82
|
| Takedown | 62 |
| Ground Top Grapple | 68 |
| Ground Bottom Grapple | 66 |
| Submission | 60 |
DEFENSIVE SKILLS
| SKILL | RATING |
|---|---|
| Standing Strikes |
79
|
| Standing Kicks | 85 |
| Clinch Striking | 81 |
| Ground Striking |
74
|
| Clinch Grapple |
80
|
| Takedown |
83
|
| Ground Top Grapple | 72 |
| Ground Bottom Grapple | 68 |
| Submission | 78 |
ULTIMATE TECHNIQUES
RIGHT LONG SUPERMAN PUNCH
Level 3—Both Standing, Striking Range
While Alves’s standing head kicks pack a tremendous wallop, this fast, rangy punch helps him quickly close on his opponent with a sharp blow to the face.
LEFT/RIGHT SIDE MUAY THAI KNEE
Level 2—Muay Thai Clinch Cage, Offense
Alves is a beast in the Muay Thai Clinch. Work the opponent over with elbows as you back him into the cage, then start working in some of these brutal knees.
STRONG RIGHT/ LEFT HOOK
Level 3- Sprawl, Top
After stuffing a takedown, Alves can punish his opponents with devastating hooks that’ll make them think twice about shooting again.
STRENGTHS
- Size
- Muay Thai
- Knockout power
Thiago Alves wields some of the most effective Muay Thai striking in the welter-weight division.
His powerful and plentiful technique strikes help him smash his opponents with both punches and kicks, and it doesn’t take long for the damage from these devastating strikes to pile up.
The stand-up game is Alves’s world, so try to maintain striking distance and be ready to sprawl against the opponent’s takedowns, which are likely to come early and often once they feel the power behind the “Pitbull’s” blows.
Alves also shines in the Muay Thai Clinch, able to control his opponents and work them over with clinch strikes as well.
WEAKNESSES
- Takedowns
- Ground grappling
Though Alves’s stand-up game ranks among the best in his weight class, his ground game leaves much to be desired.
Thiago has good clinch control and takedown defense, so it isn’t easy to bring him to the ground—but
once you manage to take him there, Alves is relatively easy to control and offers little risk of catching you with a surprise sweep or submission from the bottom.
Strike with Alves just long enough to get him exchanging, then bring him down with a short takedown once he begins to throw stronger blows and technique strikes.
Then simply focus on maintaining dominant top position and improving to a place where you can inflict some damage with ground strikes.
Attack his abdomen to set up fight-ending subs.