Rivalries: Warlley Alves

Perhaps a move to the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division can kickstart Warlley Alves’ once-promising mixed martial arts career.

“The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” Season 3 winner will do battle with once-beaten KHK MMA Team prospect Ikram Aliskerov in a three-round UFC 294 showcase on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Alves enters the Octagon on the heels of back-to-back losses. The 32-year-old Rizzo RVT export last appeared at UFC 283, where he wound up on the wrong side of a split decision against former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder Nicolas Dalby on Jan. 21.

As Alves closes in on his forthcoming clash with Aliskerov at 185 pounds, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped chart his course to this point:

Colby Covington

Alves put away the onetime NCAA All-American wrestler with a guillotine choke in the first round of their UFC 194 welterweight prelim on Dec. 12, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Covington conceded defeat 86 seconds into Round 1. Operating in the shadows of the Jose Aldo-Conor McGregor main event, Alves pressed forward against the American Top Team-trained prospect, yielded a takedown and quickly returned to his feet after eating an elbow. Covington stayed engaged in the clinch, allowing the Brazilian to jump to guillotine position. He tried unsuccessfully to slam his way out of Alves’ clutches and had no recourse but to tap. Nearly eight years later, it remains the polarizing Covington’s only loss to a Brazilian.

Kamaru Usman

“The Nigerian Nightmare” continued his climb on the welterweight ladder with a unanimous decision over Alves in their featured UFC Fight Night 100 attraction on Nov. 19, 2016 at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil. All three cageside judges scored it for Usman: 29-27, 30-26 and 29-28. Alves had no answer for the merciless pace pushed by “The Ultimate Fighter 21” winner. Usman marched forward with punches, forced the Brazilian to fight with his back to the fence and made life miserable for him in the clinch, where he utilized everything from standing elbows to nasty foot stomps. Alves tried to change his fortunes with a tight guillotine attempt in the third round, but Usman freed himself from the choke, assumed top position and moved to the mounted crucifix. After unleashing elbows, he locked down an arm-triangle choke at the base of the cage and bled the remaining seconds off the clock.

Sergio Moraes

Alves punched out the multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion in the third round of their UFC 237 welterweight prelim on May 11, 2019 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Moraes checked out against his countryman 4:13 into Round 3. Alves spent much of the first 10 minutes breaking down his opponent’s base with leg kicks, all while establishing himself as the superior striker. He upped his intensity at the start of the third round, where he moved forward and paired combinations to the body and head with more leg kicks. Eventually, Alves pushed “The Panther” to the fence, corralled him in close quarters and cut loose with a flying knee and standing elbow strike. Clearly dazed, Moraes was in no condition to protect himself from the devastating right uppercut that followed. The concussive blow folded the Evolucao Thai rep where he stood and left him in a crumpled heap at the base of the cage. Afterward, Alves received a $50,000 bonus for “Performance of the Night.”

Randy Brown

The former Ring of Combat champion dispatched Alves with a second-round triangle choke as part of the UFC Fight Night 164 undercard on Nov. 16, 2019 at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The end came 1:22 into Round 2. Brown wandered into immediate danger. Alves secured a pair of takedowns in the first round, sliced through his opponent’s guard and progressed to the back, at which point he transitioned from a neck crank to a rear-naked choke and appeared to be closing in on a finish of his own. Brown survived, extended the fight and answered a takedown from the Brazilian with a triangle early in the second round. He shifted position, adjusted the choke with his long legs and squeezed until the job was done. Alves had never been submitted before, nor since.