[autotag]Ryan Spann[/autotag] continued the unbeaten start to his octagon career Saturday when he beat [autotag]Sam Alvey[/autotag], but it wasn’t without a late scare.
For Alvey (33-14 MMA, 10-9 UFC), having more than double the fights compared to Spann (17-5 MMA, 3-0 UFC) did not prove to be a winning asset. The explosive offensive moments of “Superman” were too much, an it led to a split decision win by scores 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28.
The light heavyweight bout opened up the UFC 249 preliminary card at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+ ahead of additional prelims on ESPN and a main card on pay-per-view.
Spann wasted no time trying to implement his grappling to start the fight. He shot on Alvey less than 30 seconds in, but was met with resistance against the fence. Spann burned some time working for a standing arm triangle choke, but couldn’t finish it. That brought upon striking exchanges for the rest of the round, and Alvey scored with some good shot. Spann answered with a few of his own, though, and spent the final seconds of the round working on Alvey against the fence.
The aggression from Spann turned up a notch to start the second. He grazed Alvey with a right high kick and some subsequent punches. The Fortis MMA product pushed the action on Alvey, who found infrequent moments to slip in his strikes, though Spann took them well. It was a much closer round than the first, though, and in the end it was clear both men were fatigued after 10 minutes.
Spann came out looking to put an exclamation mark on the fight. He threw a lot of high-energy techniques, blasting Alvey with high kicks and stepping inside the pocket to throw a lot of heavy strikes. Spann’s confidence got the best of him late, though, because he took a massive counter punch from Alvey that dropped him and forced a desperate takedown. Alvey tried to pull off a miracle submission finish, but Spann kept his composure and make it to the final bell.
In his post-fight interview, Spann indicated he wasn’t too happy with his performance. “I started a little slow, a little lackadaisical, a little slow. I’m not happy. I give it a C+.”
Up-to-the-minute UFC 249 results include:
- Ryan Spann def. Sam Alvey via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)