It's hard to believe that welterweight Thiago Alves can actually make the 170 lb. limit. He's missed weight often because he is cutting such a significant amount down from his walking weight around 200 lbs.

Alves (16-3, 9-2 UFC) made the weight on Friday and was just too massive for Josh Koscheck to deal with. Koscheck tried takedowns on four separate occasions but Alves simply muscled his way out of them. When the fighters stood toe-to-toe, Alves' Muay Thai class shined through. He had Koscheck reeling 1:06 into the fight with a huge left. Koscheck was out on his feet after a big knee less than 30 seconds into the third. It was too much stand-up for Koscheck, an All-American college wrestler, who is still a work in progress on his feet.

Alves also did major damage with a bevy of kicks to Koscheck's lead leg throughout the fight. By the middle of the third round, Koscheck (11-3, 9-3 UFC) was nearly getting twisted around by the force of some of the kicks. The judges had it 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27. The Yahoo! MMA Experts blog scored it for 'The Pit Bull' in a clean sweep 30-27.

by Steve Cofield