Alves’ career is probably more known for its potential than
anything else at this point, but he should still provide a fun
fight in this appearance. Alves ran through his competition on the
third season of “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” back in 2014,
establishing himself immediately as a top prospect to watch.
However, his first post-reality series fight against Alan Jouban
immediately raised some red flags. Alves walked away with a narrow
decision win but looked exhausted once he found himself unable to
get an early finish. That did not matter for a few more fights, as
Alves continued to prove himself as an explosive finisher,
including an 86-second submission of Colby
Covington to cap 2015. However, the following year saw Alves
drop drawn-out fights to Bryan
Barberena and Kamaru
Usman, after which the book was clearly out on the Brazilian.
Alves tried to correct those issues by pacing himself but found
mixed results, so his last few bouts have mostly seen him return to
his quick-finish-or-bust ways. After missing all of 2022, Alves
looks to get back in the win column at home against Dalby, who
continues to have a solid second act in the UFC. Dalby came to the
UFC in 2015 with a decent amount of hype and beat Elizeu
Zaleski dos Santos in his debut, but he was surprisingly unable
to find a win in his next three fights and quickly slid out of the
promotion. After overcoming struggles with alcohol and depression
while back on the regional scene, Dalby has gotten himself in
excellent shape and come back as a much better fighter, even if he
has had a strange run of results. A 2020 win over Daniel
Rodriguez has aged quite well, but it came off a quick finish
at the hands of Jesse
Ronson—a bizarre outlier given Dalby’s historical reliance on
his persistence and durability. That result raises some hope that
Alves can find another quick finish, but Dalby’s overall career
suggests he is stout enough to weather the early going and grind
out a victory. The pick is Dalby via decision.
UFC News & Features
