Thiago Alves and John Howard to Clash at UFC 124; Parisyan back at UFC 123

Added on Sep 03, 2010 by Bill Jackson in

UFC & MMA

Welterweight contenders Thiago Alves and John Howard have agreed to meet at UFC 124. The bout was first reported by MMAJunkie.

Thiago Alves was considered a top ten pound-for-pound fighter in the not too distant past, but has dropped two losses in a row, first to champion Georges St. Pierre, and second to Jon Fitch. The past year has been a tough one for Alves. In addition to the losses, he was forced to pull out of multiple appearances in the octagon due to a brain abnormality discovered before a fight, and subsequent surgery.

John Howard was on a four-fight win-streak until meeting Jake Ellenberger on Aug. 1 and losing a highly competitive battle by TKO. Before that loss, Howard had attained victories over such notable names as Tamdan McCrory, Chris Wilson, and Dennis Hallman.

Speaking of Dennis Hallman, he will welcome back the briefly exiled Karo Parisyan to the octagon at UFC 123.

Parisyan’s decline in the sport has been well-documented over the past two years, as he has struggled with anxiety attacks and a pain-killer addiction. Dana White had claimed that Parisyan would never fight in the UFC again, but after just one low-profile win outside of the UFC, White seems to have had a change of heart. That’s good news for the Paul Daley fans out there.

Hallman most recently scored an upset win over Ben Saunders at UFC 117.