What are Fans Looking Forward to? Alves vs. Sanchez

Submitted by PreView on October 13, 2008 - 6:55pm.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship hosts major events over the next two weekends, and according to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) readers, there's no fight more anticipated than a welterweight clash between top contenders Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves.

Last week, as part of our weekly MMAjunkie.com/"Inside MMA" poll, we asked readers to choose the best fight from either the Oct. 18 UFC 89 card of the Oct. 25 UFC 90 event.

The results of the poll were revealed on the most recent edition of "Inside MMA," which airs Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET on HDNet.

The Sanchez-Alves fight, which garnered 38 percent of the vote, is even more anticipated than a UFC middleweight championship bout between current title-holder Anderson Silva and challenger Patrick Cote, according to voters.

I do have to recognize that the poll's voters are a somewhat limited audience. Many of Junkie's readers are loyal and/or hardcore fans, but that's just it -- they're not always your casual MMA viewer. Further, while these polls are advertised on "Inside MMA", not everyone gets HDNet, and of those who do, I'm sure not everyone watches "Inside MMA", so not everyone knows there is a poll available. So maybe the large number of Average Joes that watch MMA really want to see Silva vs. Cote, or Bisping vs. Leben, or Jardine vs. Vera -- but I think the true MMA fans, the ones who make up the majority of voters, made the right choice.

I think Alves vs. Sanchez is going to be a great match. Before this is to happen, obviously Alves must make weight. I realize that he stated he sprained his ankle before the Hughes fight, so he couldn't do his normal cardio in the days leading up to the weigh-in, but it's not the first time he's had problems with his weight. I'd be willing to bet that Dana White has told Alves if he doesn't make weight, he's going to get stuck back on the undercard, if not released for a while to fight in smaller organizations.

How is this fight going to go? I doubt that everyone can agree on a winner, but I think everyone can probably agree it's going to go at a breakneck pace. Both fighters like to fight fast, and both swing for the fences. I like Alves to win this -- I think he's stronger than Sanchez and I think he hits harder. Sanchez is a more technical fighter, but I don't think he'll be able to finesse Alves like he wants to.

I think the voters chose the fight as the one most anticipated because they know it could go either way, and whichever way it goes, it will be exciting.

-PreView