Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweights Cezar Ferreira and Sam Alvey slugged it out last night (Sun., Feb. 22, 2015) at UFC Fight Night 61 inside the Ginasio Gigantinho in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Though much of Ferreira's hype dissipated when C.B. Dollaway put him away early, the Brazilian has still been fairly impressive inside the Octagon. With a victory over Alvey, Ferreira was looking to move into the 185-pound rankings.
On the other hand, Alvey was fighting mostly for job security. He lost his debut to Tom Watson -- who's hardly setting the world on fire himself -- and then won his second match when his opponent knocked himself out during a takedown. With that in mind, Alvey definitely needed the win last night.
And boy, did he get it.
"Mutante" opened the bout with a number of kicks, while his opponent stood in front of him and did very little. Three minutes into the round, Alvey had yet to throw a serious punch, while his opponent had landed some pretty decent kicks.
Sometimes, it's just that type of night.
On literally the first punch Alvey landed, Ferreira crumbled to the mat and was barely conscious. Alvey followed his opponent to the mat with punches and finished him off.
See the replay here.
Alvey, apparently, was waiting to counter punch, which has been proven to work against his Brazilian foe. However, most counter punchers don't let their opponent freely land kicks and occasional punches for three straight minutes. Regardless, Alvey got the win in a big way, so his strategy can't be faulted too harshly.
Since Alvey won via fairly spectacular knockout, he's definitely earned his place on the UFC roster. For his next opponent, expect him to face off against one of middleweight's many middling scrappers. Since this is a fairly big victory, perhaps Alvey will get one with a high upside, like Robert Whittaker.
Or, he'll take a major step back and get the man he called out post-fight, Dan Kelly.
Ferreira was in absolute control of this bout before getting knocked out badly. He was landing heavy blows consistently and generally dictating the range.
Unfortunately for the Brazilian, his boxing defense is horrible.
First, Ferreira landed a slick upward elbow. Instead of circling out, he pulled back and looked to jump back in with more strikes. That's fine, but his right hand -- which Alvey countered harshly -- was incredibly obvious and not set up in the least.
At this point, it's clear that Ferreira is not the future top contender as once promised. Instead, he's talented enough to win and look good against average middleweights, but top fighters will crack his defense consistently. Perhaps a fight against Ed Herman would determine where both middleweights are heading.
At UFC Fight Night 61, Sam Alvey put his opponent to sleep in front of his home crowd. How high can the scrappy middleweight climb?
For complete UFC Fight Night 61 results and play-by-play, click HERE.