If ever there was a time when it might have been easy to hand out a bunch of extra bonuses, it was UFC 218.
The show in Detroit in December 2018 featured nine finishes in 13 fights – including six of eight on the prelims. But when it came time for bonuses, the UFC gave out two Fights of the Night, including one to [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] and [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] for their main-card lightweight banger.
Alvarez still was in the process of trying to rebound from the loss of the lightweight title to Conor McGregor in November 2016. His follow-up was a no contest against Dustin Poirier when he landed illegal knees.
But Gaethje was the one with perhaps more eyes on him. He came into the fight 18-0 and was just a few months removed from his UFC debut – a knockout of Michael Johnson that double-dipped for Fight and Performance of the Night. Before he got to the UFC, he was 6-0 in WSOF title fights.
Both fighters were bloodied up in the second round, and it was a regular trading of short advantages. It was clear even then the fight was an all-timer.
But in the third, with Alvarez’s face an absolute swollen mess, he landed some punches, then drilled Gaethje with a perfect right knee to the chin. Gaethje went face-down to the canvas, and Alvarez hit him with a few more shots. When he tried to get up, he fell on his face again for the first loss of his career.
Check out the full all-time classic in the video above.