The UFC lightweight division is so good at the moment that Joel Alvarez remains on outside of the Top 15 despite entering this weekend’s clash with Arman Tsarukyan on a four-fight winning streak, where all of the victories have come by way of stoppage, the last three in the first round.
Alvarez reached the UFC with a 15-1 record and riding a 10-fight winning streak, but dropped his debut to Damir Ismagulov, another ultra-talented, streaking lightweight hopeful. Since then, “El Fenomeno” has posted consecutive victories over Danilo Belluardo, Joseph Duffy, Alexander Yakovlev, and Thiago Moises, with his victory over Moises coming just four months after the previously ranked Brazilian headlined opposite this weekend’s headliner Islam Makhachev.
Two things that are likely working against the 28-year-old Spaniard as he tries to break into the rankings: (1) he only fought once last year, with more than a year having passed since his previous outing, and (2) he’s missed weight in consecutive contests.
But making weight and adding another impressive performance to his resume this weekend against Tsarukyan would all but assure Alvarez of a place in the Top 15, as his 25-year-old opponent currently sits at No. 13 in the divisional rankings and enters on a four-fight winning streak of his own.
Alvarez, who turns 29 early next month, has tremendous size for the division, standing six-foot-three with a 77-inch reach and long legs, and he uses it all to his advantage inside the cage. He has been especially sharp over his last three outings, but needs to make weight on Friday in order to maximize the value of a potential victory on Saturday night.
If he can do both of those things — hit 156 or below on the scale and earn a victory over Tsarukyan — people will be forced to talk about the tall, streaking Spaniard as a legitimate threat in the lightweight division as we head towards the second quarter of the 2022 fight calendar.
