Joel Alvarez Dominates Vicente Luque for 4th Straight Win – UFC Rio
Joel Alvarez delivered a dominant performance against Vicente Luque at UFC Rio.
After a relatively slow start, we got a stoppage in action after Alvarez appeared to poke Luque in the eye. However, instant replay revealed that the alleged eye poke was actually the result of a legal punch. Despite that, the fight failed to restart for another minute, likely because the referee had to communicate things to Luque and his corner.
Fortunately, the fight restarted with little protest. From that point, the two welterweights got after it, slinging heavy leather. That continued in the second, with Alvarez landing a couple of flying knees in the opening minute of the stanza.
Luque attempted to shoot in for a takedown, but Alvarez easily defended and proceeded to drop some heavy hammer fists from the top. Luque seemingly had no answer once on the mat, allowing Alvarez to punish him throughout the remainder of the round.
Luque’s corner acknowledged that his eye was in bad shape, but Luque insisted he was good to go.
Nearly halfway through the third, Luque shot for another takedown and once again ended up on the bottom. Alvarez caught Luque in a reverse triangle, resulting in a stalemate near the fence. Both fighters were content to sit and take a breather, eliciting a chorus of boos from the live crowd.
Mercifully, the final seconds ticked off the clock, sending us to the scorecards for a very predictable decision.
Official Result: Joel Alvarez def. Vicente Luque via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26).
