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<h3><a href="/go=news.detail&gid=231858" target="_blank">
Alves: ‘Pre-fight medicals may have saved ly life’
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<a href="/go=news.detail&gid=231858" ><img class="photo" src="http://img.mixedmartialarts.com/method=get&rs=13&q=75&x=66&y=31&w=310&h=165&ro=0&s=thiago-alves-03-25-10-12-33-23-661.jpg" /></a>
<strong class="ArticleSource">[cagepotato.com]</strong>
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Three weeks ago, and only a few days prior to his UFC 111 showdown with fellow UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch, officials from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB) discovered an abnormality in Thiago Alves’ brain and pulled him from the card. If left untreated, Doctors informed the 24-year-old that the affliction could have proven fatal had he incurred any brain trauma from fighting or even sparring.
Alves explains that although it would not necessarily have proven fatal under normal circumstances, had two vessels joined, his chances of mortality would have increased tenfold.
Looking back at the scary situation, Alves believes that if it weren’t for the stringent, necessary medical testing procedures the NJSACB’s require fighters to undergo and pass before granting them an MMA license in the Garden State, he never would have known that he had the arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in his brain and could have suffered an aneurysm, internal bleeding or worse – death.
Alves is now back to training, feeling great and anxiously awaiting word later tonight from doctors and the NJ commission on whether or not his postponed scrap with Fitch is a go for UFC 115 in June.