A pair of welterweights looking to maintain their relevance collide at UFC Sao Paulo when Randy Brown faces Brazil’s own Warlley Alves.
Hyped prospects not performing isn’t something unheard of in MMA. Far from it. However, two of them locking horns is rare enough. This weekend at UFC Sao Paulo, when Warlley Alves takes on Randy Brown, we’ll get to see this rare match-up of once-hyped fighters on the rebound. The two enter the fight with a recent win to their respective names, but their overall trajectory entering the fight’s isn’t exactly positive. Let’s take a closer look at what the two have to offer and what they will be doing.
Randy Brown came to prominence because of his appearance on the popular YoutTube fight-hunt, Dana White Lookin’ For A Fight. The show saw the UFC president going to local promotions to take a closer look at rising prospects, and offer impressive performers UFC contracts. Brown managed to deliver a performance that White liked. Resulting in him earning a deal with the big show.
After seeing success in his initial run, going 3-1 in his first four fights, Brown went down hard. He failed to deliver similar strong performances when placed against known names and saw his winning record suddenly drop to 5-3. The string of inconsistent performances stripped away all the hype around him.
Waarlley Alves was a product of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil. A winner of the show, fans were keen to see how Alves performed in the octagon against the best the division had to offer. After having his own initial strong run of 3-0 in the division, Alves fell to the pressure the division put on him. His first difficult loss came at the hands of Bryan Barberena.
Alves, like Brown, saw his record fall to 5-3, with all the three losses coming to major names. Coming into the UFC, Alves was a very decorated fighter and had a lot of high expectations around him. But two consecutive crushing losses, to Bryan Barberena and Kamaru Usman, saw interest in Alves wane.
Entering this weekend the two may be coming off wins, but a loss is something neither can afford. The pair are on similar paths in their career trajectory. The winner keeps the bare minimum attention they have, the loser loses that little attention, and potentially fades into obscurity in the UFC’s deep welterweight division.
UFC Sao Paulo (UFC Fight Night 164) will be live on ESPN+ in the USA, TSN 5 in Canada on November 16, and Sony TEN 2 and Sony TEN 2 HD in India on November 17.
