Thiago Alves

Thiago 'Pitbull' Alves was one of the most feared strikers welterweight has produced. A pure Muay Thai practitioner out of American Top Team, he combined heavy hands with leg kicks so brutal they could finish fights and end careers, and in the late 2000s that arsenal carried him on a tear to the top of the division.

That run earned him a welterweight title shot against the great Georges St-Pierre at UFC 100, one of the biggest events in company history. Alves came up short on the scorecards against the era's most complete fighter, but the performance confirmed his place among the division's elite strikers of his time.

The years that followed cast Alves as a respected gatekeeper and reliable action fighter, trading wins and losses with the welterweight division's toughest names while never losing his appetite for a firefight. Inactive since 2019, he is remembered as a throwback striker whose leg kicks remain a benchmark for the craft.