UFC on Fox 30: 5 talking points

#2 Did Alvarez snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?

Eddie Alvarez is heading into free agency coming off a loss

The first fight between Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez ended in a ton of controversy, as Poirier appeared to have Alvarez on the ropes before the former champion fought his way back into the match – only to then land an illegal knee that left Poirier unable to continue. The fight was deemed a No Contest but many fans thought Alvarez should’ve been disqualified for the illegal blow – something a near-15 year veteran of the sport should’ve known not to throw.

Going into last night’s rematch then, you’d have been forgiven for thinking Alvarez would’ve been looking to stick carefully to the rules. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case .After a close first round that probably could’ve gone either way, Alvarez appeared to be getting the better of things in the second round, knocking Poirier down early on before gaining a dominant position on the ground, first in back mount and then in full mount.

From there though – apparently acting on the instructions of his coach Mark Henry – Alvarez delivered a clearly illegal 12-6 elbow to Poirier, forcing referee Marc Goddard to pause the action before taking the dominant position away from ‘The Underground King’ – and once the fighters were on their feet, Poirier took over with his striking, battering Alvarez to a TKO loss.

So did Alvarez snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Quite possibly. Had he not thrown the illegal elbow, Poirier certainly wouldn’t have found himself in the position to throw the fight-ending flurry, and the more likely outcome would’ve been a round in the books for Alvarez – and he could well have done some serious damage from the mount, too. With Alvarez now going into free agency off the back of a loss, that illegal move could cost him more than just this fight, too.