LAS VEGAS – Joel Alvarez beat Thiago Moises with a first-round TKO Saturday to close out the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 197 in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Alvarez, who won for the fourth straight time after a loss in his promotional debut in February 2019.
Joel Alvarez vs. Thiago Moises
Result: Joel Alvarez def. Thiago Moises via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:01
Updated records: Alvarez (19-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC), Moises (15-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC)
Key stat: Alvarez outstruck Moises 44-11.
Alvarez on the fight's key moment
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 13: (L-R) Joel Alvarez of Spain punches Thiago Moises of Brazil in a lightweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on November 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“This is what we set out to do. The work was actually to finish the fight. The aggressiveness paid off. (The body kick) was something we work on a lot – striking combos. It’s a very fluid strike that includes kicking followed by the elbows and solid punches. This was nothing we don’t do in training on a weekly basis.”
Statement made by Joel Alvarez 💥
[ #UFCVegas42 | LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/Ck4myVEAEq
— UFC (@ufc) November 13, 2021
Alvarez on getting kudos from Islam Makhachev
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 13: (R-L) Thiago Moises of Brazil punches Joel Alvarez of Spain in a lightweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on November 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“It’s the coolest thing to actually have something like this happen and to know he congratulated me. I have a buddy and during training, one plays Islam and the other plays Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and we just go at it. So to hear something from him like that is awesome.”
Answering with some big strikes of his own 👀 #UFCVegas42 pic.twitter.com/YFLB8AsmmT
— UFC (@ufc) November 13, 2021
Alvarez on missing weight
“When I got up the day of the fight, I was at 158 and I tried everything I could to get down, and all I could was shed a pound and a half. … It’s just a very small thing that happened, but it’s something we’ll be working on.”
👊 @ThiagoMoisesMMA cracked him with the right.
[ #UFCVegas42 | Prelims are LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/u7CFE8k6Ki
— UFC (@ufc) November 13, 2021
To hear more from Alvarez, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
