Team Nelson’s Joey Rivera upset Team Carwin’s Sam Alvey on episode three of The Ultimate Fighter 16.
Shane Carwin chose Alvey to fight Rivera and it was the second consecutive week where the team who chose the matchup ended up losing the fight.
The outcome was a major upset as Alvey was Carwin’s top pick, while Rivera was Roy Nelson’s second to last selection.
Watch new episodes of The Ultimate Fighter 16 every Friday night on Sportsnet
In the fight, Rivera came out throwing kicks and landed a couple strong ones to Alvey’s head. Rivera followed that up by taking Alvey down twice, taking his back and attempting a standing arm-triangle. Later in the round, as Alvey was looking to take control of the fight along cage, Rivera locked in a guillotine choke and then attempted a triangle choke after Alvey escaped. Alvey finished the round with some ground-and-pound, but Rivera did more during the first five minutes.
In the second round, Alvey began by pressing Rivera against the cage and landed some knees to the legs. Rivera threatened with an arm-in guillotine, but referee Herb Dean separated the two after a stalemate. With around 90 seconds left in the round Rivera landed a head-kick, like he did at the start of the fight, that rocked Alvey. He briefly took Alvey down but the Team Carwin fighter got back to his feet and then took Rivera down with less than 20 seconds remaining.
Despite Alvey keeping the second round close, two of three judges gave the round to Rivera, who came away with the majority decision (19-19, 20-18, 20-18).
Alvey was one of the favourites to win the show and the result took UFC president Dana White by surprise. “This fight did not go the way I thought it was going to go,” White said.
And to the winner goes another fight! Congrats! #TUF twitter.com/TUFonFX/status…
— TUF Fridays on FX (@TUFonFX) September 29, 2012
“I felt fantastic after this win. My dreams were finally becoming a reality,” said Rivera. “The fight was very nerve-racking because he was the number one guy, the first one to get picked. He was also the biggest guy in the house. I felt a lot of tension. It was the hardest fight of my life to that point because I didn’t know much about him and that definitely played a part in how I fought and felt.”
The win was Team Nelson’s first of the season and evened the show up a one win apiece. Last week Team Carwin’s Neil Magny defeated Team Nelson’s Cameron Diffley by unanimous decision.
“Losing the fight was absolutely crippling,” Alvey said. “I was sadder after that loss then I have ever been before. Joey was one of the nicest guy’s in the house and if I had to lose to someone, I’m glad at least it was to him. But the force is strong in me, and I will bounce back 100 per cent better than I ever was.”
Outside of the cage, Nic Herron-Webb got under the skin of many in the TUF house. The Team Nelson fighter stayed up into the wee hours of the night playing pool and skipping rope in the house, which kept many of the contestants awake.
The two Canadians on the show, Mike Ricci and Michael Hill, both tried talking to Herron-Webb at different points in the episode to try to get him to change his behaviour.
On the next episode of TUF 16, Nelson chooses the fight matchup using a questionable technique, there is controversy at the weigh-ins, and Nelson and White continue to bump heads.
