UFC Fight Night 90: Eddie Alvarez stops Rafael dos Anjos to win UFC lightweight belt after crazy 24 hours

After twenty-four hours of madness, the fight action at UFC International Fight Week 2016 finally got underway last evening with the first of three fight nights taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Eddie Alvarez def. Rafael dos Anjos via TKO for the UFC lightweight title

In the main event, the UFC lightweight title was on the line as champion Rafael dos Anjos faced challenger Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title.

The opening of the first round saw the two exchange hands on the feet as they both diligently blocked strikes for the opening two minutes. The turning point came midway through the round as Alvarez snuck in a right hand that landed clean on the chin of dos Anjos, rocking him big time and causing him to stagger back across the cage.

From there, Alvarez took his time and after a minute of landing solid hooks and uppercuts, referee Herb Dean stepped in before dos Anjos took any more punishment.

Alvarez was the new UFC lightweight champion and his win put an exclamation point on what had already been one of the most incredible 24-hours in UFC history.

Derrick Lewis def. Roy Nelson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

The co-main event of the evening saw two fan favourite heavyweights clash with Roy Nelson taking on Derrick Lewis.

The first round opened with Lewis landing a sickening kick to the midsection of Nelson who immediately had a big red and purple welt appear on his belly. After working his way back up from a clever trip, Lewis laid on some serious offence using both uppercuts and kicks to stagger Nelson back up against the cage. Nelson appeared to be hurt but landed another clever trip to end the round in a dominant mount position.

In the second round, the pace was already slowing as both men's output started to become less frequent as they both started to look to land single shots instead of working combinations.

As they had done in the first round, they spent a good two minutes clinched against the cage before Nelson again landed another clever trip to take Lewis down. After a period on his back, Lewis managed to scramble back to his feet, however, Nelson continued to persist with the trips and had Lewis on his back a further two times before the round was up.

The final round took a similar pattern to the two previous with Nelson again putting Lewis on his back after a lengthy clinch against the cage. After yet another period of Nelson not working on his man when he had him down, the referee McCarthy put the men back on their feet to slug out the last twenty seconds and they needed no second invitation.

Both swung for the fences but it was Lewis who landed a massive right hand that sent Nelson staggering back. Somehow, Nelson made it to the final bell and the fight went to the scorecards where Derrick Lewis took the split decision. Nelson was visibly disgusted with the scoring and left the cage immediately.

Alan Jouban def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (28-27, 29-28, 29-27)

Coming in as a late replacement, Belal Muhammed put on an incredibly brave performance that saw him take Alan Jouban all the way to a decision having survived two big knockdowns in the first round and one in the second round of their welterweight fight.

Despite having suffered an incredible amount of punishment in the first ten minutes, Muhammed came into his own in the final round and relentlessly pushed forward as Jouban tired. Muhammed appeared to rock Jouban a few times but never managed to quite finish his man. When the final buzzer went to end the third round, the crowd stood on their feet and gave both men a standing ovation.

Having blitzed Muhamed for the opening two rounds it came as no surprise to see Jouban take the unanimous decision. Despite being on the wrong end of the decision, Muhammed was cheered all the way to the back.

Joseph Duffy def. Mitch Clarke via submission (rear-naked choke), R1, 0:24

International Fight Week's only fighting Irishman was in action on the first fight night of the week as Joe Duffy (14-2) took on Canadian Mitch Clark (11-3) in lightweight action to open up the main card of UFC Fight Night 90.

The first round began with both men rushing to the centre of Octagon. After a brief exchange, Duffy landed a big overhand right to send Clarke face first into the mat. Clarke bravely tried to recover but from there, the Irishman laid in a few ground strikes before working his way to his back and sinking in a slick rear-naked choke.

The fight lasted only 25 seconds and a delighted Duffy draped himself in the Irish flag again before speaking to Jon Anik on the microphone in the centre of the Octagon.

"It's good to be back," Duffy said. "I'm confident in all my game. It was just a matter of being patient. I'm hoping for an Irish card or MSG."

In other action...

The undercard got the evening off to a crazy start with five fights in a row ending inside the distance via submission. Felip Arantes (armbar), Gilbert Burns (armbar), Marco Beltran (rear-naked-choke), Vicente Luque (D'Arce choke) and Pedro Munhoz (rear-naked-choke) all picked up respective submission victories. In a day of madness, we probably all should have expected that the night would get off to an unpredictable start.

UFC Fight Night: Dos Anjos vs Alvarez Full Results

Main Card

Eddie Alvarez def. Rafael dos Anjos by TKO, R1, 3:49

Derrick Lewis def. Roy Nelson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Alan Jouban def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (28-27, 29-28, 29-27)

Joseph Duffy def. Mitch Clarke via submission (rear-naked choke), R1, 0:24

Prelim Card

Alberto Mina def. Mike Pyle via KO (flying knee), R2, 1:12

John Makdessi def. Mehdi Baghdad via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)

Anthony Birchak def. Dileno Lopes via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)

Pedro Munhoz def. Russell Doane via submission (rear-naked choke), R1, 2:08

Felipe Arantes def. Jerrod Sanders via submission (armbar), R2, 1:39

Gilbert Burns def. Lukasz Sajewski via submission (armbar), R1, 4:57

Marco Beltran def. Reginaldo Vieira via submission (rear-naked choke), R2, 3:04

Vicente Luque def. Alvero Herrera via Submission (D'Arce choke), R2, 3:52