Photo from @Pottydactyl on Twitter
Arman Tsarukyan dominates Joel Alvarez in UFC Vegas 49 bloodbath
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, February 26, 2022, for UFC Vegas 49, headlined by top ranked lightweight contender Islam Makhachev (No. 4), who faces Bobby Green in the five-round main event of the evening.
Makhachev was initially slated against fellow top contender Beneil Dariush (No. 3) tonight, however, Dariush was forced to withdraw via injury sustained in camp, thus giving Green the chance to step in just two weeks following his latest appearance, and victory.
Co-headlining the event is a 185 lb match up between middleweight talents Misha Cirkunov and Wellington Turman.
Both men are in need of a win here tonight, as Cirkunov is 2-5 in his last seven, being knocked out in four of those defeats, while Turman is 2-3 in his last five, being knocked out in the latest two defeats.
Nonetheless, both men are incredible grapplers and this will make for an exciting match up.
The second bout on the main card tonight came between surging prospects Arman Tsarukyan and Joel Alvarez.
Tsarukyan comes in with a record of 17-2, his only UFC defeat coming to Islam Makhachev himself, in his promotional debut nonetheless, while Alvarez comes into the bout with a record of 19-2, his only promotional defeat coming in his debut as well, to 20-1 Damir Ismagulov.
Both men are 4-1 inside the octagon and are on four-fight win streaks coming in.
Continue reading to see how this epic lightweight contest went down:
Official Result: Arman Tsarukuan def. Joel Alvarez via TKO (elbows & punches) at 1:57 of round two
Tsarukyan secures a takedown during a scramble about one minute into the first and remains on top for the entire round. With about 60 seconds left in the round he lands a thunderous elbow, causing a cut that immediately starts gushing blood.
Many of us believed the fight would be over in between rounds, as Alvarez survived the onslaught, but the referee gave him another chance.
However, Arman Tsarukyan secures another takedown and this time passes right to side control, where he then holds a mounted crucifix on Alvarez, reigning down heavy shots.
At this point there’s a lot of blood and the fight’s very close to being stopped. Alvarez scrambles to bottom turtle position, but is unable to get up or even defend himself anymore, and the ref has no choice but to stop it in the second.
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The lightweight division just got put on NOTICE 🩸
[ @ArmanUFC | #UFCVegas49 ] pic.twitter.com/3HDaoKx6P4
— UFC (@ufc) February 27, 2022
