Rafael dos Anjos’ next UFC lightweight title defense will be against Eddie Alvarez, and it will air exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.
As they did last December, the UFC is staging three events in three days as part of International Fight Week, and kicking things off is a championship fight on UFC Fight Pass. In an announcement made by the UFC on Friday, reigning lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will defend his title against Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC Fight Night 90 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dos Anjos (25-7) won the lightweight belt by soundly beating Anthony Pettis at UFC 185. The Brazilian successfully defended the belt with a quick TKO of Donald Cerrone last December. He was scheduled to fight Conor McGregor at UFC 196, but broke his foot and had to be pulled from the event. RDA has won 5 straight, with only 1 defeat (vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov) in his last 11 fights.
Alvarez (27-4) is the former Bellator lightweight champion who made his UFC debut in 2014, losing to Donald Cerrone by unanimous decision. He earned his first win inside the Octagon last June at UFC 188, rallying from a rough round 1 to defeat Glibert Melendez by split decision. At UFC Boston in January, Alvarez scored an upset split decision victory over Anthony Pettis, which has evidently earned him the right to fight for the title. For what it’s worth, Alvarez is the #1 ranked contender over Nurmagomedov in the official UFC rankings.
This fight marks the second time that the UFC has put a title fight on Fight Pass, with Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Jessica Penne serving as the first one last June in Berlin, Germany. That bout was a replacement main event when Alexander Gustafsson vs. Glover Teixeira was scrapped, so consider this the first time a UFC championship bout has been booked as an original Fight Pass main event.
As for dos Anjos, his broken foot led to him losing the champion vs. champion superfight with McGregor, and now he’ll be on UFC Fight Pass on Thursday, July 7th, two days before McGregor’s UFC 200 main event insta-rematch with Nate Diaz, whom RDA thrashed to secure his title shot vs. Pettis.
That’s MMA for you.