International Fight Week is under way, and one event is already in the books. UFC Fight Night 90 went down July 7, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and started the week off with a bang. Fans witnessed six submissions —five of which came in the first five fights— two knockouts and a title change. Four fighters grabbed a performance bonus for their efforts.
Performance of the Night Bonus
Eddie Alvarez became the UFC lightweight champion, defeating Rafael dos Anjos by TKO in the first round of their main event title bout. Both fighters landed their share of strikes and fought a tough back-and-forth battle through the first three minutes of the first round. At close to the two-minute mark, Alvarez caught dos Anjos on the chin with a vicious right hand that wobbled him and started off a barrage of punches dos Anjos never recovered from. To his credit, Dos Anjos never went down, despite being bombarded by an endless onslaught of rights and lefts that eventually forced referee Herb Dean to step in and stop the bout at 3:49 of the first round. For his troubles, Alvarez was awarded one of two $50,000 Performance of the Night bonuses.
Eddie Alvarez asks for an easier opponent next time — like Conor McGregor https://t.co/lQPcHNnQ8p#UFCVegas pic.twitter.com/CqRCBROZH6
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) July 8, 2016
Elsewhere on the card, Pedro “The Young Punisher” Munhoz battled back from adversity after taking a series of hard punches, kicks, and knees to sink in a beautiful arm-in guillotine choke, forcing Russel Doane to tap at 2:08 of the first round of their bantamweight bout. Munhoz earned the second $50,000 performance of the night bonus for the effort.
Fight of the Night Performance Bonus
Alan Jouban and Belal Muhammad went toe-to-toe for three rounds in an amazing back-and-forth, everything and the kitchen sink slugfest. It looked as if Jouban would get the early victory after dropping Muhammad twice in the first round, but he failed to get the finish. After dropping Muhammad once again with a beautiful left-hand counter in the second round, and then picking Muhammad apart in the beginning of the third, it looked as if Jouban was going to skate to an easy victory. Muhammad wasn’t going to let him off so easy. Jouban seemed to run out of gas and Muhammad grabbed the opportunity he’d been waiting for. He landed a series of one-twos on an exhausted Jouban and began landing shot after shot as he chased Jouban around the ring. It looked as if Jouban was ready to go out.
However, Jouban managed to survive the beating, and he went on to claim a unanimous decision victory. An impressive feat not only because he survived a lot of punishment in the third, but also because he broke two bones in his hand in the second round. Each fighter earned a $50,000 Fight of the Night performance bonus, an impressive award on a night that had several amazing fights.
Broke my hand in 2 places in the second round. The bonus $$ will help ease the pain a b… https://t.co/qJ6khEDPr4 pic.twitter.com/LXYrRHJqiJ
— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) July 8, 2016
Still to come for International Fight Week are The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale on July 8, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and UFC 200 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. If UFC Fight Night 90 was any precursor to what fans can expect, get ready for an awesome week.
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