A knee injury has forced Thiago Alves out of his scheduled UFC 107 bout with fellow top contender Jon Fitch. News of Alves' injury and withdrawal from the event was first reported by MMA FanHouse.com.

According to the report, Alves tore a posterior cruciate ligament, which will require three to four weeks to heal. He'll look to be back in early 2010. Alves wanted to fight through the injury but his management team at American Top Team in Florida convinced him otherwise.

Fitch can't seem to catch a break as he was originally slated to fight at UFC 106 against Ricardo Almeida, however, Almeida was forced to withdraw from the Nov. 21 event also due to a knee injury. It is not yet known if another opponent will be found for Fitch or if he will even remain on the card.

Alves was originally set to fight Paulo Thiago at UFC 107, however, was pulled from that bout in favor of a rematch with Fitch. He was looking to avenge a previous loss suffered against Fitch, which occured at UFC Fight Night 5 in June 2006.

UFC 107 takes place Dec. 12 in Memphis TN. The event is headlined by a UFC lightweight title bout between current champ B.J. Penn and top contender Diego Sanchez. In addition, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir will take on Cheick Kongo, and Kenny Florian and Clay Guida will face each other in a lightweight bout.