The American Top Team fighter weighed-in at 171.5 pounds, a half-pound over the limit.  He was given two hours to shed the half-pound but was unable to do so. 

Alves will still fight on the card, but will be fined 20 percent of his purse.

This marks the second time the Brazilian has failed to make weight.  In June 2008 he was overweight for his fight with Matt Hughes.  He was also suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in 2007 for testing positive for diurectics.

Alves is making his first return to the Octagon since July 2009 when he lost to champion Georges St. Pierre by unanimous decision.

UFC President Dana White announced today at the UFC 117 pre-fight press conference that Alves or Fitch will face the winner of George St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck, who will face one another later this year.

St. Pierre and Koscheck serve as coaches on the upcoming 12th season of The Ultimate Fighter. 

Fitch and Alves have fought one another previously.  The two met in 2006 at UFC Fight Night 5 where Fitch scored a 2nd round TKO victory after landing an upkick to the face of Alves.

Both men have also previously faced current welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.  Alves’ last appearance came against the champion where he lost a decisive unanimous decision.

Fitch faced St. Pierre in 2008 at UFC 87 where he was badly beaten, losing by unanimous decision.  Since the loss, Fitch has put together four consecutive wins, all coming by unanimous decision.  In his UFC career, Fitch is an impressive 12-1.

Fitch vs. Alves will take co-main event status at UFC 117, which also features a middleweight title bout between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.

UFC 117 takes place on August 7 from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. 

Full fight card for the event now includes:

Main Card

Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen (Middleweight Championship Bout)
Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Clay Guida vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida
Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson

Undercard

Thiago Silva vs. Tim Boetsch
Dustin Hazelett vs. Rick Story
Stefan Struve vs. Christian Morecraft
Johny Hendricks vs. Charlie Brenneman
Ben Saunders vs. Dennis Hallman
Rodney Wallace vs. Stanislav Nedkov

MMAfighting.com reported that the matchup–originally scheduled for UFC 111 and then later for UFC 115–has been pushed back to UFC 117 to give Alves more time to heal from his recent surgery to repair an irregulatity in his brain.

The irregularity was discovered prior to UFC 111 by New Jersey State Athletic Commission officials, forcing Alves to withdraw from his bout with Fitch.  Fitch went on to face Ben Saunders whom he defeated by unanimous decision.

Alves and Fitch previously fought in 2006 at UFC Fight Night 5 where Fitch won by TKO.

UFC 117 is rumored to take place in Oakland, California on August 7.

Gossip website TMZ.com spoke with Alves this past weekend after Alves was pulled from his matchup with Jon Fitch at UFC 111 due to irregularities in a CAT scan he had taken previous to the bout.

“I went and saw a specialist this morning who told me I need to have the minor procedure,” Alves told TMZ on Friday.

Alves stated that he is planning to be back in the gym in about two weeks.  His management has stated that they hope to get Alves back in action as early as possible, with a possible return to the Octagon in May.

According to Fighters Only, the routine brain scan taken by Alves showed irregularities which caused the New Jersey State Athletic Commission to pull Alves out of his fight.

Sherdog.com is reporting that Alves’ American Top Team teammate Ben Saunders will step-in to face Fitch.  Saunders was scheduled to face Jake Ellenberger on the night’s main card. 

A lightweight matchup between New Jersey-native Kurt Pellegrino and Fabricio Camoes has been updgraded to the pay-per-view portion of the card.

UFC 111 takes place Saturday, March 27 from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Fitch was originally scheduled to face Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106, but Almeida was forced to withdraw due to injury. Fitch was then moved to UFC 107 against Alves, but the injury bug has now forced Alves to withdraw from that matchup.

Pierce (10-1) was rumored to face Josh Koscheck sometime in the new year, but that bout was scrapped due to Koscheck being placed on the UFC 106 card in a fight with Anthony Johnson.

The two will now face each other in December at UFC 107, headlined by BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez in a lightweight title fight.

Pierce is 1-0 in the Octagon, defeating Brock Larson at UFC Fight Night 19 by unanimous decision.

UFC 107 takes place on December 12th from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee.

Jon Fitch, who was originally slated to fight Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106 (Almeida pulled out due to injury), will square off against Brazilian striker Thiago “Pitbull” Alves.  It will be the second meeting between the two contenders.  In their first fight at UFC Fight Night 5 in 2006, Fitch came out on top via second round TKO. 

Fitch vs. Alves has been added to the night’s main card, along with a lightweight matchup between Kenny Florian and Clay Guida.   Both Florian and Guida are coming off losses.  Florian was defeated by BJ Penn in a lightweight championship bout at UFC 101.  Guida lost via split decision against Diego Sanchez at The Ultimate Fighter Finale this past June.

Full card for UFC 107:

Main Card

BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez (Lightweight Championship Bout)
Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo
Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch
Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida
Paul Buentello vs. Todd Duffee

Undercard

Alan Belcher vs. Wilson Gouveia
Matt Wiman vs. Shane Nelson
Johny Hendricks vs. Ricardo Funch
Rousimar Palhares vs. Lucio Linhares
DaMarques Johnson vs. Edgar Garcia
Kevin Burns vs. TJ Grant

UFC 107 takes place on Saturday, December 12th from the FedEx Arena in Memphis, Tennessee.

Alves will be making his return to the Octagon after losing by unanimous decision to welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 100. 

He will have a formidable foe in Thiago, who sports a 11-1 overall record and who knocked out Josh Koscheck at UFC 95.  Thiago last fought and lost to Jon Fitch at UFC 100.

UFC 107 will feature a headline matchup between BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez for the lightweight title.  Sanchez is undefeated after dropping to lightweight, defeating Joe Stevenson and more recently Clay Guida at The Ultimate Fighter Finale, in what is considered by many to be the fight of the year.

Also on the televised card will be a heavyweight bout between Frank Mir and Cheick Kongo.  Both men are looking to get back in the win column after recent defeats.

Kongo lost to Cain Velasquez by unanimous decision at UFC 99.  Mir, of course, faced defeat at the hands of current heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 100.

UFC 107 will take place from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee.  It will be the second UFC event held in the Volunteer State; the first being UFC Fight Night, which took place this past April in Nashville.

UFC 107 will be broadcast live on pay-per-view on Saturday, December 12, 2009.