"I don't care if he goes 1-4 in his first five UFC fights. Never cut Rafael Alves" - Fans react to Rafael Alves' insane head movement as he makes Drew Dober miss 5 punches in a row

Rafael Alves suffered a tough loss against Drew Dober at UFC 277. Alves was stopped with a vicious body shot that immediately ended the fight in the third round.

What has been a rocky start to Alves' UFC career continued after his fight at UFC 277. Originally signed as a featherweight, Alves missed weight by 11.5 lbs ahead of what would have been his UFC debut against Patrick Sabatini. This was a UFC record and he would have also been over the lightweight limit.

Following the embarrassing weight miss debacle, Alves moved up to the lightweight division and lost his debut to Damir Ismagulov by unanimous decision. Alves was able to bounce back with a first-round victory via submission against Marc Diakiese to pick up his first career win in the UFC.

He entered his UFC 277 matchup against Dober with his first opportunity to fight on a pay-per-view card. While Alves didn't know much about Dober entering the fight, he wasn't able to take advantage of anything and was ultimately defeated.

Despite a tough start to his career, a sequence clipped below left fans in awe of Alves.

Rafael Alves' ability to avoid several of Drew Dober's attempted punches led one fan to believe that Alves should be with the UFC for the foreseeable future.

The defensive sequence from Rafael Alves was very impressive. His showmanship at the end of the clip of him dancing mid-fight is something that fans generally tend to find entertaining. It is this type of showmanship that makes fighters like Israel Adesanya one of the most popular fighters in the sport.

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Can Rafael Alves become a star in the UFC?

For Rafael Alves to reach that level of popularity, he will have to begin winning fights. Thus far in his career, the talent has not matched the results. While showmanship, being entertaining and likable can keep you under contract, it cannot turn you into a star. The only way to propel yourself into stardom is by winning fights.

His UFC 277 opponent, Drew Dober, is targeting a matchup with rising star Paddy Pimblett after coming off his victory against Alves. While Pimblett isn't ranked, he is a popular fighter who is often compared to Conor McGregor. Handing Pimblett his first UFC loss, assuming that the fight is made, would be big for Dober.

Going back to Alves, he needs to put together a similar string of victories. While his showmanship was great, winning the fight would likely have had him as the one being suggested to fight Pimblett. Instead, he will have to rebound from a tough loss.