Perhaps a move to the
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division can
kickstart
Warlley
Alves’ once-promising mixed martial arts career.
“The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” Season 3 winner will do battle with
once-beaten KHK MMA Team prospect
Ikram
Aliskerov in a three-round
UFC 294 showcase on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates. Alves enters the Octagon on the heels of
back-to-back losses. The 32-year-old Rizzo RVT export last appeared
at UFC 283, where he wound up on the wrong side of a split decision
against former
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder
Nicolas
Dalby on Jan. 21.
As Alves closes in on his forthcoming clash with Aliskerov at 185
pounds, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped chart his
course to this point:
Alves put away the onetime NCAA All-American wrestler with a
guillotine choke in the first round of their UFC 194 welterweight
prelim on Dec. 12, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Covington conceded defeat 86 seconds into Round 1. Operating in the
shadows of the
Jose
Aldo-
Conor
McGregor main event, Alves pressed forward against the
American Top Team-trained prospect, yielded a takedown and
quickly returned to his feet after eating an elbow. Covington
stayed engaged in the clinch, allowing the Brazilian to jump to
guillotine position. He tried unsuccessfully to slam his way out of
Alves’ clutches and had no recourse but to tap. Nearly eight years
later, it remains the polarizing Covington’s only loss to a
Brazilian.
“The Nigerian Nightmare” continued his climb on the welterweight
ladder with a unanimous decision over Alves in their featured UFC
Fight Night 100 attraction on Nov. 19, 2016 at Ibirapuera Gymnasium
in Sao Paulo, Brazil. All three cageside judges scored it for
Usman: 29-27, 30-26 and 29-28. Alves had no answer for the
merciless pace pushed by “The Ultimate Fighter 21” winner. Usman
marched forward with punches, forced the Brazilian to fight with
his back to the fence and made life miserable for him in the
clinch, where he utilized everything from standing elbows to nasty
foot stomps. Alves tried to change his fortunes with a tight
guillotine attempt in the third round, but Usman freed himself from
the choke, assumed top position and moved to the mounted crucifix.
After unleashing elbows, he locked down an arm-triangle choke at
the base of the cage and bled the remaining seconds off the
clock.
Alves punched out the multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion
in the third round of their UFC 237 welterweight prelim on May 11,
2019 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Moraes checked out
against his countryman 4:13 into Round 3. Alves spent much of the
first 10 minutes breaking down his opponent’s base with leg kicks,
all while establishing himself as the superior striker. He upped
his intensity at the start of the third round, where he moved
forward and paired combinations to the body and head with more leg
kicks. Eventually, Alves pushed “The Panther” to the fence,
corralled him in close quarters and cut loose with a flying knee
and standing elbow strike. Clearly dazed, Moraes was in no
condition to protect himself from the devastating right uppercut
that followed. The concussive blow folded the Evolucao Thai rep
where he stood and left him in a crumpled heap at the base of the
cage. Afterward, Alves received a $50,000 bonus for “Performance of
the Night.”
The former
Ring of
Combat champion dispatched Alves with a second-round triangle
choke as part of the UFC Fight Night 164 undercard on Nov. 16, 2019
at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The end came 1:22
into Round 2. Brown wandered into immediate danger. Alves secured a
pair of takedowns in the first round, sliced through his opponent’s
guard and progressed to the back, at which point he transitioned
from a neck crank to a rear-naked choke and appeared to be closing
in on a finish of his own. Brown survived, extended the fight and
answered a takedown from the Brazilian with a triangle early in the
second round. He shifted position, adjusted the choke with his long
legs and squeezed until the job was done. Alves had never been
submitted before, nor since.