Alvarez, Poirier no contest after electric two rounds

POIRIER vs ALVAREZ

An exciting lightweight scrap between Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez met an abbreviated end at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday’s UFC 211 card, with accidental, but illegal, knees prompting a no contest verdict.

“I’m not a dirty fighter,” Alvarez said. “We’re fist fighting in here. I’m doing the best I can, and I apologize.”

“This is unfortunate, Eddie didn’t mean to do that, but like he said, this is a fist fight,” said a gracious Poirier.

Before the unfortunate finish, there was plenty of top notch action, with Poirier (21-5, 1 NC) taking the first round behind a patient attack, as he stayed away from Alvarez’ bombs and takedowns, pecking and poking at the Philadelphian with long-range punches and kicks.

Alvarez (28-5, 1 NC) landed a hard right to start round two, but he wasn’t able to deliver on his follow-up takedown attempt. As the two broke, Poirier staggered Alvarez with a left hand and he went on the attack trying to finish. Alvarez tried to clear his head by firing off haymakers, and just when it looked like he was on the verge of being stopped, a brawl broke out, with each fighter taking hard shots from the other. With a minute left, the two battled along the fence and Alvarez landed two illegal knees, with the second one cutting Poirier under the left eye and bringing a halt to the action.

As the Octagonside physician checked Poirier out, referee Herb Dean stopped the fight and ruled a no contest, believing Alvarez’ fouls to be accidental. Replays showed that with the Texas commission not using the 2017 revision of the unified rules of MMA, the knees were indeed illegal.

The official time of the finish was 4:12 of round two.