Joel Alvarez may have punched his ticket to the lightweight top 15 earlier today (Sat., Nov. 13, 2021) at UFC Vegas 42 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, when “El Fenomeno” finished contender Thiago Moises via first-round TKO (elbows and punches).
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HIGH STAKES LIGHTWEIGHT MATCHUP! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to UFC APEX on Sat., Sept. 23, 2023, with a high stakes 155-pound showdown as No. 6-ranked contender, Rafael Fiziev, takes on No. 7-seeded Mateusz Gamrot. In UFC Vegas 79’s co-main event, No. 12-ranked Featherweight contender, Bryce Mitchell, steps back into the Octagon against No. 13-seeded Dan Ige.
This was a true coming out party for Alvarez who is normally known to use his grappling to overwhelm opponents but used his striking to track down Moises. Alvarez used sharp front kicks, jabs, and leg kicks to pepper Moises over the first two minutes. That’s when Alvarez unloaded a barrage of brutal elbows and body punches along the cage that slammed into Moises and forced the referee to step in for the stoppage.
Check out the video highlights above courtesy of UFC/ESPN.
Alvarez, 28, has now won four-straight fights since dropping his Octagon debut to Damir Ismagulov back in 2019. Not only is “El Fenomeno” winning these matchups with dangerous opponents in the stacked lightweight division, but he’s absolutely smashing the competition having finished all four of his recent victories. It will be very surprising to not see Alvarez ranked in the division’s top 15 next week.
For complete UFC Vegas 42 results and coverage click here.
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