Los Angeles, CA — Needless to say, Saturday night didn’t pan out the way American Top Team coach Thiago Alves had hoped.
A former UFC title challenger, Alves, who had told Cageside Press in advance that the fight would likely be his last, faced Mike Perry in the main event of BKFC KnuckleMania 4. A former champ with the promotion, Alves remained a big name, but was dusted about a minute into the bout.
So what comes next for “Pitbull?” Speaking with media outlets following the event, he confirmed that retirement is the plan.
“I’m going back to retirement. I pretty much was already retired. Didn’t make an announcement or anything because I wanted to do one more. And this was it,” Alves stated. “Unfortunately it didn’t go my way.”
“I’ve been fighting since I was 15 years old. Took this fight on eight week’s notice, I lost my mother on April 5, so I’ve been through a lot. I put my family through a lot already. I’m happy being a coach, living the life that I live. I’ve got no regrets. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to go out on top when you’re competing at this level. But I’m happy with the man I see in the mirror, and on to the next one.”
The ending to Saturday’s main event came when the ref waved the action off after a knockdown. Alves did make it make to his feet, but appeared to stumble, forcing the referee’s hands. “I got dropped, and I was getting up, and then the referee told me ‘take a few steps.’ I did, and I guess he didn’t like what he saw,” Alves recalled.
“I figured I’d go out on my shield, but that wasn’t the case today.”
After decades in combat sports, Thiago Alves has plenty of fond memories, but one in particular is his Fight of the Night winning performance against Seth Baczynski in Orlando in 2014. “I had a lot of pressure in that fight,” Alves noted, pointing out that Bacazynski had just defeated Neil Magny, while Alves himself had been on the shelf for two years. “If you don’t compete for two years at this level we’re competing, you’re pretty much forgotten. So I was very proud of this moment, I was able to fight and win a Performance of the Night.”
Watch the full BKFC KnuckleMania 4 post-fight press conference with Thiago Alves above.
