UFC Fight Night 90 Preview
In the past few years the lightweight division has been one of the deepest in the UFC with so much talent and so many potential champions.
It was a division where the championship seemed to change hands more often than anywhere else as the talent was just too great.
Challengers were lining up and they were waiting a long time as champions continued to fall and rematches continued to be made.
Seemingly out of nowhere though, the lightweight division has fallen into the forgotten category.
In the concentration to bring up the heavyweight division and the craziness in the women’s bantamweight division and the featherweight division.
The lightweight division has taken a backseat, aside from a brief uptick when Conor McGregor was set to fight for the championship, after years of being the division to watch.
Some part of that has been the inactivity of the champion, Rafael dos Anjos, who was set to face McGregor earlier this year but pulled out after a foot injury.
That injury meant that dos Anjos hadn’t fought since December of last year and as a result the lightweight division has been in limbo.
Only adding to the disappearance of the division was the fight between dos Anjos and McGregor which would have been huge for the division and the UFC.
With that fight being cancelled the UFC was left with a championship race that seemed to have no true contenders.
If there were real contenders then the UFC wouldn’t have reached to bring McGregor into the division.
The prospect of McGregor taking the title was even better for them as that would have brought new life with the loudest fighter defending two belts at once.
None of that has happened though and the UFC is left with a division that has had a bit of the life taken out of it despite the talent being there to be the best division in the UFC.
To ignite it again the UFC will kick off international fight week with a free lightweight title fight as dos Anjos returns to the octagon to extend his title reign.
Even though many expected, or in some cases wanted, McGregor to be the champion the fact is dos Anjos might have won that fight.
He has all of the tools to be a dominant champion with some of the best jiu-jitsu in the division and underrated power that he has shown off in the last few years.
He has the makings of a dominant champion and with a title defence under his belt he is looking to take out the rest of the division.
He will start with a fighter that is ranked in the top of the division but still remains a relative unknown.
Eddie Alvarez has not exactly skyrocketed up the rankings in the UFC as he has two big wins against top contenders but both were extremely close.
After losing to Donald Cerrone, Alvarez has put together two straight split decision wins against Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis.
More than the wins it is his championship pedigree, after winning the title with Bellator that got him the title shot as he looks to make it two titles in two promotions.
Alvarez might not be widely known and may not be the fighter that some want to see in this position but there is little doubt that the former champion has the ability to win big fights.
Whether he can beat dos Anjos is another question all together though as he barely got by two good fighters in the UFC and now has to face the best in the division.
Alvarez would be smart to try to keep this fight standing as dos Anjos does have power which he has shown more recently but his strength has always been on the ground.
Despite Alvarez’s ability in wrestling, going to ground against a jiu Jitsu practitioner at the level of dos Anjos is never a smart idea.
So the best bet would be to keep the fight standing as Alvarez has some great boxing behind him and if he can out-technique the champion he could take the championship.
It is not very likely though as dos Anjos seems to be too good for Alvarez with most just waiting to see him fight some of the bigger names.
For now though it is Alvarez and in an era where upsets have taken over the UFC nothing is impossible as a new champion could come in a fight that nobody expects much from.
The Sport Addiction 