Fitch-Alves Winner Gets Crack at 170 Title

Add another No. 1 contender match to Saturday's UFC 117 card in Oakland, Calif.

At press conference on Thursday, UFC president Dana White announced that the winner of the welterweight bout between Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves will earn a title shot.

"These two guys are gonna face off, and the winner of this fight will fight against the winner of Koscheck-St. Pierre for the title," White said. "And yes, Jon Fitch will fight Koscheck if he wins."

St. Pierre and Koscheck are opposing coaches on the upcoming season of "The Ultimate Fighter," which debuts on Sept. 15 on Spike TV. The two will square off on an as-yet-to-be announced fight card in December.

Koscheck is a teammate of Fitch's at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., and the two have expressed opposition toward fighting one another despite both being highly ranked in the UFC's 170-pound division.

When asked about a potential matchup with Koscheck on Thursday, Fitch instead chose to focus on his clash with Alves.

"I have a big fight ahead of me on Saturday night, and that's the focus of my attention. Anything in the future will be dealt (with) in the future," he said.

St. Pierre owns previous unanimous decision victories over all of his potential future opponents: Koscheck at UFC 74, Fitch at UFC 87 and Alves at UFC 100.

Fitch-Alves has been delayed several times already, and the Ft. Wayne, Ind., native is looking forward to the opportunity to step into the Octagon against the American Top Team product.

"This is a huge fight for me. It's the biggest fight possible for me right now," Fitch said. "It's been the biggest fight for the last 6-8 months or however long they've been trying to put it together. I'm just happy that Thiago is healthy and we're able to get this fight and get it underway.

"The consensus No. 2 and No. 3 in the world and we've been that way for a long time. A lot of fans have been asking for this fight for a long time. It needs to happen."

It's the second bout on the card for No. 1 contender status. It had been previously announced that the Roy Nelson-Junior dos Santos winner will earn a heavyweight title shot against the Oct. 23 winner of Brock Lesnar-Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in Anaheim, Calif.