UFC Welterweight Warlley Alves Expects 4 Fights in 2023, Hunts for Bonus at UFC 283

Ready to make up for lost time, Ultimate Fighting Championship talent Warlley Alves plans on this year being his most active one yet.

In May 2014, Alves conquered the third season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” at the age of 23. The Brazilian just turned 32 this week, and he is set to return to the cage for the first time in nearly 19 months. Due to serious injury and subsequent surgery, Alves could not fight for the entirety of 2022, and he is very hungry for his next outing. He will step foot in the Octagon at UFC 283 on Jan. 21, and he will square off against Nicolas Dalby in an important 170-pound tilt. Alves spoke to Sherdog this week about his recovery and what he sees in his future.

“I’m really motivated for this fight,” Alves was ready to admit. “I love to fight opponents that come to exchange. It will be a classic [battle] of striking styles. His karate against my kickboxing. He has a style pretty similar to [Lyoto] Machida, but he likes to put opponents down. Anyway, I’m training really hard for this camp.”

Formerly a member of X-Gym, Alves has moved to greener pastures in the form of Rizzo RVT with Pedro Rizzo. He also trains under “Dede” Pederneiras at Nova Uniao. This combined camp, Alves believes, will mark a turning point in his career.

“These two guys [of Rizzo and Pederneiras] are geniuses of the sport,” the Brazilian stated. “When you have great training partners and two trainers like that to fix your daily mistakes, you will reach your best. Dalby is a very tough guy, but I’m going to fight for the bonus, that I truly believe will be [between] our fight and [Mounir] Lazzez vs. [Gabriel] Bonfim.”

This matchup is a home game for the man born in Minas Gerais, as he lives less than half a mile from the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. It will be his first match in front of Brazilian fans since late 2019.

“Fighting at home, supported by your people, always brings an extra charge of motivation, but my focus is on getting back on the win column, even though my last defeat was really painful. I was coming from a great knockout win in the first round against Mounir Lazzez and was in incredible shape against Jeremiah Wells, but I missed a kick that gave him perfect distance to catch me right in the chin,” Alves shared.

While he has won eight fights in his 13 UFC appearances, Alves has struggled the last few years, alternating wins and losses in his last six. After his defeat to Wells in June 2021, the TUF winner was matched up against Jack Della Maddalena in early 2022. Injury scuttled that matchup, and the now 32-year-old found himself facing a lengthy recovery period.

“This guy [Maddalena] is a talent, he trains with [Israel] Adesanya and pushed me to train a lot,” Alves explained. “It was going to be a war, but unfortunately, I tore my ACL and needed surgery, staying almost six months from sparring. It was hard, but made me really hungry to reach my best shape again in that fight against Dalby.”

Now healthy and good to go from injury, Alves is planning on seeking three more fights in 2023 after his January pairing against Dalby.

“I’ll fight as much as my body can handle, once I loose around 13kg per fight,” Alves said. “But my plan is be ready to fight in January 21, May, August and December. That would be a perfect year to me.”

Even though he is not among those ranked in the welterweight division, Alves has multiple encounters with some of the best at 170 pounds. Alves remains the lone man to submit ex-title challenger Colby Covington, and he also took on Kamaru Usman back in 2016. While Usman lost his title in the rematch to Leon Edwards last August, Alves expects that his former foe will get his belt back should they fight at their rumored date in March.

“I see Usman beating Leon Edwards in the rematch, and [Khamzat] Chimaev beating Covington. But Usman is not a good match up for the Chechen. Usman has something I’ve never seen: he increases his power during the fight. He starts the fight with 80% and finishes with 100%; I believe he will end 2023 as the welterweight champion,” Alves concluded.