The best American-born fighter not fighting in the United States is lightweight Eddie Alvarez. The DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix being held in Japan was the opportunity of a lifetime to finally make a name for himself on a grand stage.
However, it turns out it was not meant to be.
Regardless, the 24-year-old Philadelphia, PA native, formerly ranked No. 7 in the world at lightweight by Top Gun MMA, did not disappoint. He rattled off consecutive victories over former No. 50 ranked Andrei Amade and former No. 22 ranked Joachim Hansen in the first two rounds of the grand prix.
Today's Must Reads
In the tournament semifinals, he faced the toughest test of his career taking on former No. 14 ranked Tatsuya Kawajiri. This was a back and forth battle until Alvarez hit Kawajiri with a second round flurry causing the referee to intervene and save Kawajiri from any further severe damage.
It was a gutsy performance by Alvarez and a ticket to face the winner of the other semifinal in No. 1 ranked Shinya Aoki for the championship.
The championship match was scheduled for the same evening. This would come to be an unfortunate circumstance for Alvarez who was not allowed to participate in the championship match by tournament officials.
Alvarez sustained damage to his eye against Kawajiri, and it was almost swollen shut after the fight. Joachim Hansen, who Alvarez had previously beaten in the tournament, took his place and subsequently upset Aoki to take home the championship.
To finish reading the article click on the following link: http://www.topgunmma.com/viewArticle.php?articleID=10528.
Thank you for your patience.
comments (6) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
A little payback for the gogoplata Aoki gave Hellboy when they fought in Pride.
from about 1 month ago
i'm not sure anyone gave hansen a chance in that fight. The guy had nothing to lose since he had already lost earlier in the day ...
did you guys see the kawajiri/alvarez fight??? that was a war ... both of those guys looked like they were done a couple times each in that fight. Those guys like to stand and bang.
On a side note ... how in the world is Affliction going to stay in business??? 3 mil + in payouts and they couldn't even sell out the stadium on fight night?
about 1 month ago
Hansen is one powerful dude. I can't believe Aoki didn't win the tourney -- really wanted him to. O well.
from about 1 month ago
yeah he got a free gift when alvarez couldn't continue. I was looking forward to alvarez/aoki too. Hansen is hard to figure out. He's like the keith jardine of lightweights. He'll beat up aoki one night then lose to a second or third tier guy the next.
about 1 month ago
I watched some of these fights online a couple days ago, now I have time to comment. Aoki did awesome against Uno -- I can't believe that slick triangle didn't finish Uno. Then I watched Alvarez vs Kajawiri. Oh. My. God. What a fight. One of the best fights I've ever seen. Alvarez is so exciting and so talented. His stand up is awesome. I want to see how these guys would fair against the UFC wrestlers and BJ Penn so bad but its so unlikely to happen with most of them.
Then there's Hansen vs Aoki. My comment above is all I have to say about that. He is explosive and dangerous. Definitely could be considered a Keith Jardine-like fighter. Looking back on it, Aoki didn't need to pull guard like he did. I bet he could have taken Hansen down and got top position which would have been a lot safer. He probably still had the memory of that gogoplata he pulled off against Hansen back in the day.
After watching these fights I went back to watch Hansen vs Alvarez. That was a great fight too. Alvarez has dangerous stand up and is super explosive. He has that bounce on his feet like Sok does. With all the takedowns Alvarez had it definitely made me think Aoki could have done the same thing. Alvarez has a bright future. And I look forward to Aoki bouncing back.
from about 1 month ago
And they need to fight some day that'd be awesome.
write a new comment