If UFC Vegas 23 was Sam Alvey’s last hurrah in the UFC, he’ll at least leave the party with some extra spending cash.
The popular middleweight (returning to the division after a stint at 205lbs) was paired up with Julian Marquez on the ABC-broadcast main card Saturday. Marquez, as you may remember, shot to fame for calling out none other than Miley Cyrus following his Valentine’s weekend win back in February.
Cyrus may have broken his heart in the end, but she didn’t dampen his fighting spirit. “The Cuban Missile Crisis” and “Smile’n” Sam got right to business, trading heavy leather for a round and then some. When Alvey finally went down, he was too tough to go out, at least from punches — so Marquez choked him out instead.
For Marquez, it was his second straight victory. For Alvey, he is now winless in six, going 0-5-1 in that span. As fun as his fights are to watch, that’s not a record you want in the UFC.
Mackenzie Dern, meanwhile, picked up an arm-bar submission of Nina Nunes (formerly Ansaroff), in a key strawweight fight that should push the BJJ ace closer to title contention. That earned her one of two Performance of the Night bonuses on Saturday. The other went to Mateusz Gamrot, who secured his first UFC win in style when he floored Scott Holtzman with a punch in the second round.
All four bonus winning fighters at UFC Vegas 23 will pocket $50,000 for their efforts.
