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Welterweight champion Georges St Pierre believes UFC 100 opponent Thiago Alves will be the most dangerous he has ever faced.

The French-Canadian, rarely one to resort to cheap superlatives, says he has been training harder than ever to ensure he meets the challenge of the dangerous Brazilian on July 11 in Las Vegas.

The 25-year-old Alves (pictured) heads into the fight with seven consecutive wins - his last four coming against impressive quartet of Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Karo Parisyan and Chris Lytle.

St Pierre says that despite there being far more media and fan hype for his superfight against BJ Penn at UFC 94 in January, Alves is twice the fighter than the Hawaiian lightweight champion.

"If you put Thiago Alves and BJ Penn in a fight, I would bet all my money on Thiago Alves, no doubt about it," he said.

"This fight, for a lot of people, seems less dangerous for me because Thiago Alves is a gentleman. He's not somebody that needs to talk trash to promote himself.

"He's a very respectful guy. So, that's what makes him even more dangerous. And, skill wise he's bringing a lot more problems on the table than everybody I've fought so far."

Alves unleashed a series of sickening leg kicks in beating Koscheck after previously showing impressive wrestling skills against Hughes, and Penn has been forced to do plenty of homework to figure out his best chance of claiming victory against the multi-skilled Brazilian.

"Thiago has devastating leg kicks," St Pierre said. "But that's not the only thing he's got. He's got great knees. A great left hook. And, he's got good - very good - heavy hands too.

"I've been studying a lot of tape, and I do have a specific strategy that I will use to take him out of his comfort zone, but it's like when you play cards you don't want to show your hand.

"When I fought BJ Penn I had a strategy, but Thiago Alves is a way different fighter than BJ Penn so it's going to be a different strategy. It's going to be something else that I'm going to do to him.

"But when you play cards, you don't want to show your hand.

"I'm very excited about that fight and that's why my motivation has never been that high because it's a great challenge for me and I have never been so pumped up for a fight."

Meanwhile, UFC will this week announce their new home on British television, with Sky Sports, Bravo and Channel 5 all bidding for live rights following the collapse of Setanta.

Bravo currently hold archive rights but would have to renegotiate for live rights, while Sky are interested in resuming their relationship with the organisation after their broadcast of UFC 38 at the Royal Albert Hall in 2002.

Alex Sharratt / Eurosport