MMAConvert.com

Thiago Alves was understandably disappointed in himself that he lost to Georges St. Pierre last year at UFC 100. As he tells Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani, he learned a lot from that loss and believes he would beat GSP in a rematch. He hopes a a knockout of Jon Fitch at UFC 111 will get him one, but if the UFC has other plans in store for him, such as a fight with fellow striker Paul Daley, he’s all about that too.

We know Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will meet for a third time following their stint as coaches on the 11th season of The Ultimate Fighter. But we don’t know when.

However according to Vancouver’s News1130 All News Radio (via MMA Frenzy), Chuck and Tito may fight at UFC 115 on June 12.

According to our own Geoff Rohoman in the News1130 Sports Centre, Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz could take place at the event. It will be the third time the pair face off in the octagon. Liddell and Ortiz are expected to fight at the conclusion of the 11th run of “The Ultimate Fighter” series, which debuts March 31 on Spike TV.

The timing of the season’s conclusion, which would be immediately followed by a weekend finale, seems pretty tight for a June 12 date, but this is the UFC’s first foray into Vancouver so it makes sense they would want to bring as many big names with them as possible.

The following isn’t tied to any one event, but according to Fighters Only, Paul Daley’s next opponent will be Josh Koscheck.

Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley has all but confirmed he will be fighting Josh Koscheck next – and says the fight will be very soon. The fight is a big step up for him in the welterweight division and could catapult him into contender status if he wins.

Considering Dana White said following UFC 108 Daley’s next opponent would either be Koscheck or Jon Fitch, and Fitch has since signed to fight Thiago Alves at UFC 111, Daley vs Koscheck sometime this spring seems like a pretty safe bet.

The welterweight rematch we were supposed to see a few weeks ago at UFC 107 will likely be rescheduled for UFC 111. According to MMA Mania, Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves are targeted to meet again on March 27 at the Prudential Center, in Newark, NJ.

If this fight comes together, an already monster card featuring GSP vs. Dan Hardy and Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin will only get bigger, assuming the injury plague doesn’t strike again of course.

So much for Dana’s six weeks to figure out what to do with the top of the heavyweight division.

According to Fanhouse, the UFC has decided to put together Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir for the interim heavyweight title at UFC 111.

With UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar still indefinitely on the shelf, the organization is moving swiftly to create an interim championship.

And fresh off his spectacular win at UFC 107, Frank Mir is being tabbed to face No. 1 contender Shane Carwin to fill the interim title matchup, FanHouse has learned.

The bout, which has not been officially signed but has been verbally agreed to by at least one side, will be featured as the co-main event at UFC 111 on March 27, 2010 in Newark, N.J.

With an unfortunate string of weak cards transitioning from 2009 into 2010, UFC 111 is shaping up to be a major event. While not officially announced, Georges St. Pierre is expected to defend his welterweight title in the main event against Dan Hardy. Thiago Alves is also reportedly making his return in New Jersey, possibly against Ricardo Almeida. Mir vs. Carwin would certainly put it over the top as a must-see event.

That said, one win over Cheick Kongo, as impressive as it was, gets Frank Mir a title shot even if it’s only for a meaningless interim title? That doesn’t seem right.

Update: If Frank Mir is getting an interim title shot against Shane Carwin, he doesn’t know it yet.

“Nothing is official yet, I’m reading the Internet too and trying to call the UFC. I will agree to it if it comes up. I just think people were talking and it made sense but nothing is official. They haven’t talked to me yet but I don’t know if somebody with the UFC has leaked it out…The only part that was a surprise to me was that it could be for an interim belt. Last I heard, I was sitting next to Dana at the (UFC 107) post-fight press conference when he said we’re going to wait for 4-to-6 weeks to find out whether or not Brock’s going to be able to return or not.”

“We’ve got guys always getting ready (to fight), always training, so I had a handful of guys training really hard right now to get ready with me…He (Alves) helped me a lot with the knees, the knees and kicks because that’s his game. He looks a lot like Aldo if you watch those guys fight; straight punches, good needs, good kicks. Alves is just bigger and hits harder…Aldo might be quicker, but Thiago showed me a lot of nice defensive stuff on what to do in those types of situations. I go with a lot of the guys my weight, 45-pounders, 35-pounders to get that blazing speed.”

—Mike Brown talking to MMA Weekly about training with Thiago Alves for Jose Aldo

If you’re going to fight the Muay Thai wrecking machine that Jose Aldo has proved to be at 145 lbs., there aren’t many sparring partners better equipped to emulate his style than Thiago Alves. As Brown said, he’s pretty much a bigger, stronger version of Aldo, just not as quick.

Will it help lead Mike Brown to another successful title defense? We’ll find out tomorrow night, but my feeling is it will. I got Brown, who you got?

Image via Sherdog

When it rains, it pours.

A knee injury has forced welterweight Thiago Alves to pull out of his scheduled bout against Jon Fitch at UFC 107. FanHouse learned of the news Friday morning.

According to sources, Alves recently suffered a torn posterior cruciate ligament. It is unknown at this time how long he will be out of action.

There is a slight glimmer of hope though. According to Josh Gross, Thiago Alves’ camp says he’s still going to fight at UFC 107, though MMA Junkie’s John Morgan says he confirmed Fanhouse’s report.

If the fight is off, it’s unknown at this point if Fitch will get a replacement opponent or if he’ll be moved to another card. As you may remember Fitch was originally scheduled for UFC 106 against Ricardo Almeida before he withdrew from the fight with a knee injury.

Dana was right, everyday he wakes up bad shit happens. It just seems to be happening a lot more than usual lately.

Update: Gross is now hearing the fight’s definitely off.

Update 2: Jon Fitch will face Mike Pierce at UFC 107.

Apparently, the UFC has this sweet new policy of replacing a decent fight with a totally awesome one when someone gets injured, or at least it seems that way.

UFC 100 took place earlier this evening at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the night’s main event, Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir met to unify the UFC heavyweight titles.

In the co-main event, Georges St. Pierre defended his UFC Welterweight Championship against Thiago Alves.

TUF 9 coaches Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson fought for a possible shot at the UFC middleweight title.

Alan Belcher welcomed overseas superstar Yoshihiro Akiyama to the UFC in a middleweight clash.

Jon Fitch faced off against Paulo Thiago in a welterweight scrap.

Results, thoughts, bonuses and live gate (when available) after the jump.