UFC 188: Eddie Alvarez overcomes eye injury to defeat rival Gilbert Melendez
MEXICO CITY – Eddie Alvarez couldn’t see out of his left eye for the better part of the final two rounds, but that didn’t stop him from one of the biggest wins of his career.
Alvarez overcame a grotesquely swollen left eye to score a split decision victory over long-time rival Gilbert Melendez Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 188.
The two had long talked about fighting each other, but they were in different organizations and it didn’t occur until Saturday.
It didn’t turn out to be the back-and-forth, action-packed fight that many expected, but that didn’t matter to Alvarez, who not only scored his first UFC victory but got a sweet victory over a man he’d chased for years.
Alvarez was elbowed on his left eye late in the first round, but it blew up when he blew his nose. When he came out for the second round, it was all but closed and it looked as if he’d hidden a marble under his left eyelid.
“I would have liked to open up a little more, but he shut my eye in the very beginning,” Alvarez said.
He had eaten a big right early in the fight, but did a remarkably good job neutralizing Melendez’s offense over the final two rounds. Alvarez took Melendez down several times and said “he’s not strong there,” as they were fighting on the ground.
The pace slowed as the third round wore on, but it was Alvarez who kept pushing.
Melendez wasn’t able to get his combinations off like he wanted and though he landed far more punches according to FightMetric – 93 to 43 – Alvarez connected at the higher percentage.
Alvarez landed 54.4 percent of his strikes (43 of 79) according to FightMetric while Melendez hit on 49.7 percent (93 of 187).
