Always the businessman, Alvarez seemed to like the idea of fighting Conor McGregor, shooting some flame the Irishman’s way. Since falling to Donald Cerrone in his promotional debut, Alvarez has won his last two bouts – both by split decision – against Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis to earn the shot. “I had him hurt, so I had to empty the gas tank”. It was easy to momentarily forget that the UFC’s marathon three straight nights of fights has begun with Jon Jones’ failed drug test and the search for a new opponent for Daniel Cormier controlling the conversation. The 155-pound division is stacked with killers, and as we saw on Thursday night, one mistake is all it takes for the championship to change hands. It’s the kind of fight that I welcome.
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“Rafael was top five pound for pound, and I took him out in the first round”. Here’s our pick for the main event of UFC Fight Night 90. Also, Derrick Lewis faces Roy Nelson, plus Alan Jouban and Joseph Duffy are in action.
Dos Anjos is the heavy favorite (-335) over Alvarez (+275) heading into the bout. “I have 25 minutes to fight, but if I have the opportunity to finish, then I’ll take advantage of it”. He maintains the freakish pace, battering the champion with every sort of left and right imaginable.
“I just feel that I’m so confident because I feel that I have more weapons than Alvarez”, dos Anjos said. But Nelson is a big step up in competition. The true best guys like Rafael dos Anjos and the best guys in the division.
John Makdessi needed Thursday night to be a new beginning.
“Look, there’s a lot of guys in the UFC who are good at one thing, and they get matched up stylistically well”, Alvarez said. Cormier (17-1) has never lost to anyone but Jones, but he was outclassed in their first meeting. “You can’t allow a guy like that to overcome that situation. I’m just very blessed”. Alvarez defeated Dos Anjos by first round TKO.
“He’s a tough guy, he’s been in many wars and he’s beat two former champions”, Dos Anjos told the OC Register, referring to Alvarez. Against whom it does not matter for me. He then continued his camp for six weeks at Kings MMA in California with trainer Rafael Cordeiro, where they broke down tape of Alvarez and formulated the game plan for Alvarez.
“I’m going to press forward, have that man backed up the way I had him backed up the last time and this time I’m going to tee off on him”. This includes the preparation of derivative works of, or the incorporation of such content into other works.
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What’s next in dos Anjos’ division is a title fight with Alvarez (27-4) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. He was supposed to defend the UFC lightweight title against Conor McGregor at UFC 196 earlier this year but had to pull out due to an injury.
