Rick Story may have been on a five fight winning streak leading up to UFC 130 but his dominating decision victory over dangerous Muay Thai striker and former welterweight title contender Thiago Alves is by far his most significant to date. Story has come a long way since losing his UFC debut to John Hathaway back at UFC 99 and has steadily grown and matured with each fight ever since, but not many would have predicted such an assured display against an opponent the calibre of Alves.
Story had clearly done his homework and proceeded to emulate the strategy that had been so effective in Alves’s previous losses to both George St Pierre and Jon Fitch respectively. He refused to allow Alves anytime to set himself and use the kind of punishing leg kicks that were so effective against the likes of John Howard (in his previous fight), and drove the Brazilian onto the fence time and time again with forceful takedown attempts, stifling clinch-work and powerful spurts of aggressive striking.
Alves rallied in the third and final round, and started to find his target with solid knees and punches to both the body and head, but as the clock ticked down his chances faded and it all began to become a little bit desperate for the American top team trained fighter. ‘The Horror’ refused to relent and fired back with potent strikes of his own to end the fight on a high, and ensure the win by way of unanimous decision.
While Alves remains one of the best strikers in the welterweight division, he will have to work further at finding answers to the difficult questions that have been repeatedly posed when facing high level wrestlers who refuse to simply stand with him and go ‘toe to toe’. His game has simply not reached a stage where he can defend against such an aggressive onslaught of suffocating takedown attempts and with the blue print to beat him set, he runs the risk of continuing to be frustrated and exposed.
Story on the other hand, has seen his stock rise significantly and will look to face another high ranked opponent in a division that has been all but dominated by pound for pound great George St Pierre. He still has some way to go before being touted as a legitimate challenger to the welterweight champion but Story is far from the finished article and at just twenty six years of age is progressing rapidly.
It’s a big risk when calling out an opponent. Particularly one as dangerous as ‘The Pitbull’ but Story’s confidence and self-belief has paid dividend. With such an assured display his immediate future looks to be extremely bright. In fact, it was the sort of grinding and disciplined performance that a Jon Fitch or maybe even a Josh Koscheck would have been proud. And with a victory over a consensus top five welterweight like Alves, perhaps Joe Silver will look to match him with another former title contender?
