Eddie Alvarez Shines, Card Delivers at Fight Night 90
Eddie Alvarez Shines, Card Delivers at Fight Night 90
Former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez became the UFC 155-pound titleholder on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
By Jim Edwards
After twenty-four hours of madness, the fight action at UFC International Fight Week 2016 finally got underway last evening with the first of three fight nights taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In the main event, the UFC lightweight title was on the line as champion Rafael dos Anjos faced challenger Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title.
The opening of the first round saw the two exchange hands on the feet as they both diligently blocked strikes for the opening two minutes. The turning point came midway through the round as Alvarez snuck in a right hand that landed clean on the chin of dos Anjos, rocking him big time and causing him to stagger back across the cage.
From there, Alvarez took his time and after a minute of landing solid hooks and uppercuts, referee Herb Dean stepped in before dos Anjos took any more punishment.
Alvarez was the new UFC lightweight champion and his win put an exclamation point on what had already been one of the most incredible 24-hours in UFC history.
The co-main event of the evening saw two fan favorite heavyweights clash with Roy Nelson taking on Derrick Lewis.
The first round opened with Lewis landing a sickening kick to the midsection of Nelson who immediately had a big red and purple welt appear on his belly. After working his way back up from a clever trip, Lewis laid on some serious offense using both uppercuts and kicks to stagger Nelson back up against the cage. Nelson appeared to be hurt but landed another clever trip to end the round in a dominant mount position.
In the second round, the pace was already slowing as both men's output started to become less frequent as they both started to look to land single shots instead of working combinations.
As they had done in the first round, they spent a good two minutes clinched against the cage before Nelson again landed another clever trip to take Lewis down. After a period on his back, Lewis managed to scramble back to his feet, however, Nelson continued to persist with the trips and had Lewis on his back a further two times before the round was up.
The final round took a similar pattern to the two previous with Nelson again putting Lewis on his back after a lengthy clinch against the cage. After yet another period of Nelson not working on his man when he had him down, the referee McCarthy put the men back on their feet to slug out the last twenty seconds and they needed no second invitation.
Both swung for the fences but it was Lewis who landed a massive right hand that sent Nelson staggering back. Somehow, Nelson made it to the final bell and the fight went to the scorecards where Derrick Lewis took the split decision. Nelson was visibly disgusted with the scoring and left the cage immediately.
In other action on the main card, Joe Duffy defeated Mitch Clarke via submission and Alan Jouban took home a unanimous decision over Belal Muhammad.
UFC Fight Night: Dos Anjos vs Alvarez Full Results:
Main Card
Eddie Alvarez def. Rafael dos Anjos by TKO, R1, 3:49
Derrick Lewis def. Roy Nelson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Alan Jouban def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (28-27, 29-28, 29-27)
Joseph Duffy def. Mitch Clarke via submission (rear-naked choke), R1, 0:24
Prelim Card
Alberto Mina def. Mike Pyle via KO (flying knee), R2, 1:12
John Makdessi def. Mehdi Baghdad via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Anthony Birchak def. Dileno Lopes via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Pedro Munhoz def. Russell Doane via submission (rear-naked choke), R1, 2:08
Felipe Arantes def. Jerrod Sanders via submission (armbar), R2, 1:39
Gilbert Burns def. Lukasz Sajewski via submission (armbar), R1, 4:57
Marco Beltran def. Reginaldo Vieira via submission (rear-naked choke), R2, 3:04
Vicente Luque def. Alvero Herrera via Submission (D'Arce choke), R2, 3:52
After twenty-four hours of madness, the fight action at UFC International Fight Week 2016 finally got underway last evening with the first of three fight nights taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In the main event, the UFC lightweight title was on the line as champion Rafael dos Anjos faced challenger Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title.
The opening of the first round saw the two exchange hands on the feet as they both diligently blocked strikes for the opening two minutes. The turning point came midway through the round as Alvarez snuck in a right hand that landed clean on the chin of dos Anjos, rocking him big time and causing him to stagger back across the cage.
From there, Alvarez took his time and after a minute of landing solid hooks and uppercuts, referee Herb Dean stepped in before dos Anjos took any more punishment.
Alvarez was the new UFC lightweight champion and his win put an exclamation point on what had already been one of the most incredible 24-hours in UFC history.
The co-main event of the evening saw two fan favorite heavyweights clash with Roy Nelson taking on Derrick Lewis.
The first round opened with Lewis landing a sickening kick to the midsection of Nelson who immediately had a big red and purple welt appear on his belly. After working his way back up from a clever trip, Lewis laid on some serious offense using both uppercuts and kicks to stagger Nelson back up against the cage. Nelson appeared to be hurt but landed another clever trip to end the round in a dominant mount position.
In the second round, the pace was already slowing as both men's output started to become less frequent as they both started to look to land single shots instead of working combinations.
As they had done in the first round, they spent a good two minutes clinched against the cage before Nelson again landed another clever trip to take Lewis down. After a period on his back, Lewis managed to scramble back to his feet, however, Nelson continued to persist with the trips and had Lewis on his back a further two times before the round was up.
The final round took a similar pattern to the two previous with Nelson again putting Lewis on his back after a lengthy clinch against the cage. After yet another period of Nelson not working on his man when he had him down, the referee McCarthy put the men back on their feet to slug out the last twenty seconds and they needed no second invitation.
Both swung for the fences but it was Lewis who landed a massive right hand that sent Nelson staggering back. Somehow, Nelson made it to the final bell and the fight went to the scorecards where Derrick Lewis took the split decision. Nelson was visibly disgusted with the scoring and left the cage immediately.
In other action on the main card, Joe Duffy defeated Mitch Clarke via submission and Alan Jouban took home a unanimous decision over Belal Muhammad.
UFC Fight Night: Dos Anjos vs Alvarez Full Results:
Main Card
Eddie Alvarez def. Rafael dos Anjos by TKO, R1, 3:49
Derrick Lewis def. Roy Nelson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Alan Jouban def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (28-27, 29-28, 29-27)
Joseph Duffy def. Mitch Clarke via submission (rear-naked choke), R1, 0:24
Prelim Card
Alberto Mina def. Mike Pyle via KO (flying knee), R2, 1:12
John Makdessi def. Mehdi Baghdad via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Anthony Birchak def. Dileno Lopes via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Pedro Munhoz def. Russell Doane via submission (rear-naked choke), R1, 2:08
Felipe Arantes def. Jerrod Sanders via submission (armbar), R2, 1:39
Gilbert Burns def. Lukasz Sajewski via submission (armbar), R1, 4:57
Marco Beltran def. Reginaldo Vieira via submission (rear-naked choke), R2, 3:04
Vicente Luque def. Alvero Herrera via Submission (D'Arce choke), R2, 3:52