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Alessio looks to claim No. 1 contender
John (The Natural) Alessio believes he’s already the No. 1 contender for the WEC welterweight title. He can solidify that claim on Wednesday, when he takes on Brock Larson at the Joint at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The B.C. native, who now resides in Las Vegas has been looking forward to the opportunity to position himself again for a title shot. It was one year ago, almost to the day, that he lost to Carlos Condit by rear naked choke one second before the end of the second round in a fight for the vacant WEC belt.
Since then Alessio (22-10) has gone on a three-fight win streak, including a decision victory in December against Todd Moore, when he eagerly stepped in as a late replacement.
This time around, he had plenty of notice. He learned of his opponent a couple months ago and the minute he did, he had a message about it posted on his Facebook page, as is his custom, counting down the time before he can lay a "beatdown" on his opponent.
"I’m ready to go. My training is pretty much all said and done, I’m just waiting for the bell to ring," Alessio told Sportsnet.ca on Sunday. "I’ve been waiting for 10 weeks now."
The six-foot-10 fighter does all his training in Las Vegas under the tutelage of the likes of fellow Canadian Shawn Tompkins at Xtreme Couture.
With few Canadian fighters on as a hot a streak as Alessio, it would seem only natural (no pun intended) that The Natural be given an opportunity to fight on the UFC’s upcoming card in Montreal, the first ever in Canada. But Alessio is okay with being left off.
"As far as Montreal, I’m not too worried about going all the way there to fight. I have big opportunities in the WEC and I don’t want other distractions."
Alessio will be in town for the event however. He’ll be there to support his training partner Mac Danzig, who takes on Toronto’s Mark Bocek. In this case, he can be excused if he’s not rooting for the Canuck.
The 28-year-old veteran did say it would be "crazy" if the UFC were to have an event in B.C. in the future and not include him on that one, especially considering his contract is with Zuffa, which owns both organizations. But he has no control over that.
What he does have control over is making it virtually impossible for the WEC not to give him a rematch with Condit for the championship, if he hasn’t already earned it.
"I believe I’m already the No. 1 contender, but it would make sense to get another shot if I win this," Alessio said. "That would make four in a row, I’d be 6-1 in the UFC. But it all depends on what the WEC and the promoters want to do."
Like Alessio, Larson’s only loss in the WEC to this point has come against Condit, so something’s got to give here. It will basically come down to whose technique prevails.
"It’s no secret that Brock likes to go to the ground," Alessio said of the Minnesota product often confused with the similarly-named Brock Lesnar. "He’s a good wrestler and grappler. I believe my striking is better, so I’m going to try to keep the fight up.
"But if it goes to the ground I’ll be ready. I’ll just try to outsmart him and out-technique him and fight my fight."
In the main event, Doug Marshall defends his light-heavyweight title against Brian Stann. Marshall beat Ariel Gandulla by armbar less than a minute into his last fight at WEC 31 in December.
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Alessio looks to claim No. 1 contender
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