Should Thiago Alves be forced to move to 185 pounds?

Thiago Alves missed weight for the second time this past weekend at UFC 117, prompting UFC president Dana White to say Alves should be moving up to middleweight in the future.

Alves, though, is adamant about staying at welterweight, the place where he's fought all 13 of his UFC fights.

Dave Meltzer said on Saturday night's edition of Wrestling Observer Radio (subscription required) that on the morning of Friday's weigh-in, Alves weighed 173 pounds. Despite being only two pounds from the target weight, Alves couldn't make it, coming a half-pound short, weighing in at 171.5 pounds. Even though he missed weight, Alves looked smaller in the cage than he had in the past. This information indicates that this could've just been a bad weight cut, although that's not exactly excusable considering how many times Alves has cut to the weight. The other time Alves missed weight, at UFC 85 against Matt Hughes, it was an ankle injury that supposedly caused it. This time, though, there's no excuse, but I don't think White and the UFC should force Alves to move to 185 pounds.

Alves is a victim of mixed martial arts' weight classes. At 5-foot-9, Alves is too small for 185 pounds but is too big for 170 pounds. Right now, he has two strikes (and we'll let his positive test for a diuretic at UFC 66 slide). If he misses weight one more time, no matter what the circumstances are, he shouldn't be offered any more 170 pound fights.

It's unfortunate such a talented fighter is becoming tainted by weight issues. Hopefully Alves can put this behind him and continue fighting at 170 pounds where his career has the best chance to succeed.

SBN coverage of UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen