Fans were amazed not only that Joel Alvarez landed another huge finish on Saturday night, but that he ended up on the prelims.
The Spanish lightweight star has been to the scorecards once in his entire professional career, in a lose UFC debut, and has otherwise had knockouts or submissions in every fight. That streak continued at the Amalie Arena in Tampa as he brutally kneed and put a stop to Drakkar Klose.
He has now found himself on a three-fight winning streak after being stopped by Arman Tsarukyan in 2022. The Armenian is now the number one contender at lightweight, and fans are questioning if Alvarez is the best unranked fighter in the promotion.
Joel Alvarez lands stunning knockout win over Drakkar Klose at UFC Tampa
In a prelim fight on Saturday night’s UFC Tampa event, Joel Alvarez scored his 22nd career stoppage, landing knockout number five. The Spaniard has been in the UFC since 2019, delivering all but one finish even in his losing efforts.
He landed a massive flying knee on veteran Drakkar Klose about halfway through round one, and almost instantly seemed to lock in a guillotine. However, he continued throwing punches, and referee Dan Miragliotta had to step in and call a stop to the bout.
American Klose has been with the UFC since the beginning of 2017, and is not somebody who is known for being as exciting a fighter as Alvarez. He has delivered just two stoppage wins thus far in his octagon career, preferring the scorecards.
Fans rage over Joel Alvarez’s spot on the UFC Tampa card
One issue that had fans outraged even more after watching Alvarez land another stoppage win was his placement on the card. He and Michael Johnson both landed exciting knockouts, but were placed on the prelim card, much to the annoyance of viewers.
“Joel Alvarez being in the prelims should be illegal,” one fan wrote after watching the fight. “24 fights, no decisions, 17 submissions, 4 knockouts.” Another noted that “The fact that Joel Alvarez isn’t ranked at lightweight shows you how deep that weight class is.”
And controversial social media star MMA Guru gave his take on the Spaniard’s performance, writing: “He’s like the actually good version of Jalin Turner, Spain has a good fighter other than [Ilia] Topuria finally and this one’s actually Spanish.”
Joel Alvarez teases move to welterweight and UFC Spain appearance
In the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s fight, Alvarez spoke to Michael Bisping in the octagon, where he called his shot going forward. He noted that he was planning a move up to welterweight, unless there was an opportunity for a big lightweight outing at the rumoured UFC Spain card next year.
“I don’t know, we haven’t talked about an opponent,” he told Bisping via a translator. “We’ve talked about 155lb but we’ve also talked with our team about going up to 170lb, unless we’re going to have UFC Spain and then we’re going to stay at lightweight.”
That Spanish showcase would likely be headlined by featherweight champion Topuria, who seems to be gearing up for a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski. He is also eyeing a move up in pursuit of a second belt
- Who is Islam Makhachev? Step inside the life of the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet