The last of the four preliminary bouts on FS2 on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 108 in Nashville is a matchup between UFC veterans Thales Leites and Sam Alvey. Leites is 11-6 in the UFC, while Alvey is 7-3. Alvey has been the UFC’s energizer bunny, as this will be the sixth fight for him in the last 11 months. The good news for Alvey is that keeping busy has worked, as he has won his last four bouts.
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Thales Leites (26-7, 11-6 UFC)
Leites has had a solid UFC career, as he was impressive early, eventually getting a title shot against Anderson Silva that he lost in 2009. He lost his next fight to Alessio Sakara and was out of the UFC. He bounced around for a bit before coming back to the UFC in 2013. He won five straight fights before losing to Michael Bisping in 2015. He then lost to Gegard Mousasi early in 2016 but bounced back to defeat Chris Camozzi in August of 2016. The last fight for Leites was in November of last year when he lost to Krzysztof Jotko.
Leites said that winning and losing streaks are part of MMA. He said earlier this year that staying on a winning streak is tough. “Fights get harder against tougher and better-ranked professionals.” Leites said to MMAjunkie. “It’s difficult to keep up a win streak. I try to take lessons from it all. I seek to learn from what I did wrong, and build on those things I did right. The work goes on.”
Leites said that he didn’t do what he needed to do in his last fight to beat Jotko. “I truly lost my last fight,” Leites said, “I didn’t fight to my full potential. Krzysztof Jotko did a great job. He deserves full credit. On my side, I trained hard, but I didn’t do nearly 50 percent of what I was prepared to do. But there’s no time machine.”
Leites said that this fight against Alvey will be tough. “Sam Alvey is tough,” Leites said. “He is like a rattlesnake. He has very heavy hands and a lot of faith in his chin. He keeps moving forward. He’s dangerous. I’ve analyzed him already.”
Sam Alvey (30-8, 7-3 UFC)
Alvey has won his last four fights but this will be a step up in competition for him, as he takes on Leites. What we do know about Alvey is that he isn’t afraid of a lot of action, as this is his sixth fight in the last 11 months.
The problem with backing Alvey is that the list of opponents he faced has not been impressive. His last four wins have come against Eric Spicely, Kevin Casey, Alex Nicholson and Nate Marquardt.
UFC Picks
This should be an even fight with Leites having the edge on the mat, while Alvey has the edge in striking. Leites has fought tougher competition than has Alvey and I think that will be the difference in this one, so I will take Leites to get the win. I also think playing the rounds over is worth a look.
UFC Fight Night 108 takes place on Saturday, April 22, 2017 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The headline fight is a featherweight bout between Cub Swanson and Artem Lobov. There are six fights on the main card on FS1 and seven on the preliminary card with four on FS2 and three on UFC Fight Pass.
Main Card (FS1)
Cub Swanson -600 vs. Artem Lobov (rounds 3.5 under -156)
Al Iaquinta -400 vs. Diego Sanchez (rounds 2.5 over -150)
Ovince Saint Preux -165 vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima (rounds 1.5 under -156)
John Dodson -415 vs. Eddie Wineland (rounds 2.5 over -145)
Stevie Ray -195 vs. Joe Lauzon (rounds 2.5 over -135)
Mike Perry -180 vs. Jake Ellenberger (rounds 1.5 over -120)
Preliminary Card (FS2)
Sam Alvey -111 vs. Thales Leites
Dustin Ortiz -210 vs. Brandon Moreno
Scott Holtzman -355 vs. Michael McBride
Jessica Penne -133 vs. Danielle Taylor
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Alexis Davis -265 vs. Cindy Dandois
Bryan Barberena -350 vs. Joe Proctor
Hector Sandoval -125 vs. Matt Schnell
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