Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. UFC 200 Fight Week & The Thursday Triple-Header
3. Quick Stats
4. Main Event: Alvarez Shocks dos Anjos to Win the LW Title
5. Five Consecutive Submissions & Burns’ Last-Second Armbar
6. Full Results
7. Bonuses & Awards
8. Records & Milestones
9. Legacy & Impact
10. FAQ
Introduction
UFC Fight Night 90: dos Anjos vs. Alvarez took place on Thursday, July 7, 2016 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada — broadcast exclusively on UFC Fight Pass. The card drew 7,760 fans for a gate of $690,526. It was the first of three consecutive nights of UFC events during UFC 200 Fight Week — FN90 on Thursday, the TUF Finale on Friday, and UFC 200 on Saturday. The main event was a UFC Lightweight Championship bout between defending champion Rafael dos Anjos and challenger Eddie Alvarez.
Eddie Alvarez stopped Rafael dos Anjos by TKO at 3:33 of round one — becoming the UFC Lightweight Champion and the first fighter in MMA history to win a UFC championship after having previously been a Bellator champion. Alan Jouban and Belal Muhammad earned Fight of the Night for one of the card’s most competitive bouts. Alvarez and Pedro Munhoz earned Performance of the Night. The card opened with five consecutive submission finishes on the preliminary card, including Gilbert Burns’ armbar with 3 seconds remaining in the first round.
UFC 200 Fight Week & The Thursday Triple-Header
UFC 200 — held on July 9, 2016 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas — was one of the most commercially anticipated events in UFC history. The promotion scheduled three consecutive nights of events during the Fight Week: UFC Fight Night 90 (Thursday evening, MGM Grand, Fight Pass), the TUF Finale (Friday evening, The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel), and UFC 200 (Saturday evening, T-Mobile Arena, PPV). The three-night structure was the most concentrated competitive calendar the UFC had ever run, placing content across multiple platforms and venues in a single week.
FN90’s Fight Pass exclusivity reflected its position as the ‘kick-off card’ of the week — a genuine championship bout (with dos Anjos vs. Alvarez) positioned as premium Fight Pass content rather than a free cable broadcast. The 7,760 attendance and $690,526 gate reflected the Fight Pass model’s inherent ceiling compared to Fox Sports 1 cards. The card’s quality — a LW title fight and 12 bouts, five of which opened with submissions — delivered genuine entertainment value.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Thursday, July 7, 2016 (THURSDAY NIGHT CARD — first of UFC 200 Fight Week triple-header)
📍 Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
👥 Attendance: 7,760
💰 Gate: $690,526
📺 Broadcast: UFC Fight Pass EXCLUSIVE (Thursday night)
🏆 Main Event: Rafael dos Anjos vs. Eddie Alvarez — UFC Lightweight Championship (RDA defending; Alvarez first Bellator champion to challenge for UFC gold; title was RDA’s after 2 title defences)
✅ Result: Alvarez def. dos Anjos via TKO (punches) — R1, 3:33 (PoN $50k; first Bellator champion to become UFC champion; LW title changes hands)
Main Event: Alvarez Shocks dos Anjos to Win the LW Title
Rafael dos Anjos had won the UFC LW title from Anthony Pettis at UFC 185 in March 2015 and made two successful defences — over Donald Cerrone (UFC Fight Night 68) and Beneil Dariush (UFC Fight Night). He was considered one of the most dominant LW champions in UFC history, combining BJJ with improved boxing and relentless pressure. Eddie Alvarez was the former Bellator LW champion who had won his last three UFC fights, including his split decision over Anthony Pettis at UFC Fight Night 81 in Boston in January 2016.
Alvarez’s crushing right hand landed at an early stage in round one and visibly wobbled dos Anjos. He followed with a flying knee attempt that did not connect but took both fighters to the ground, with dos Anjos landing on top. The ground-and-pound position allowed Alvarez to land additional punches before referee Herb Dean intervened at 3:33. Dos Anjos showed the heart of a champion, continuing to absorb shots before the stoppage. Alvarez’s immediate post-fight focus was the biggest available title defence: Conor McGregor, who had become the most commercially significant fighter in UFC history.
Five Consecutive Submissions & Burns’ Last-Second Armbar
The preliminary card opened with five consecutive submission finishes — an extremely rare occurrence in UFC history. The five submissions in the first five fights of the card produced one of the most technically submission-heavy opening sequences in any UFC event. Gilbert Burns’ armbar of Łukasz Sajewski with 3 seconds remaining in round one was the most technically celebrated of the five: Burns transitioned from a rear-naked choke attempt to an armbar in the final seconds, forcing the tap before the bell. Burns later described the finish as one of his most instinctive competitive moments.
Alan Jouban and Belal Muhammad’s welterweight FotN fight produced a compelling narrative: Jouban controlled the first two rounds and dropped Muhammad twice, but could not finish. Muhammad dominated round three, landing power shots on an increasingly fatigued Jouban. Jouban earned the decision win but revealed post-fight that he had broken his hand in two places during the fight. Muhammad — making his UFC debut — had shown sufficient quality to earn the FotN and demonstrated the resilience that defined his subsequent top-five WW career. Derrick Lewis’ majority decision over Roy Nelson was an early career LW win that built toward his eventual UFC HW title shot.
Full Results
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Eddie Alvarez def. Rafael dos Anjos — TKO (punches) — R1, 3:33 — UFC LW Championship (PoN $50k; first Bellator champion to win UFC gold; flying knee attempt preceded ground TKO)
Derrick Lewis def. Roy Nelson — [Decision] — Heavyweight (Lewis early career; future UFC HW title challenger; Nelson declining)
Alan Jouban def. Belal Muhammad — Unanimous Decision — Welterweight (FotN $50k each; Jouban dropped Muhammad twice in R1/R2; Muhammad dominated R3; Muhammad’s UFC debut; Jouban broke hand in 2 places!)
Joseph Duffy def. Mitch Clarke — Submission — R1 — Lightweight (quick main card opener)
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Gilbert Burns def. Łukasz Sajewski — Submission (armbar) — R1, 3:57 — Lightweight (LAST-SECOND ARMBAR with 3 seconds remaining; Burns transitioned from RNC to armbar; selfie celebration!)
Alberto Mina def. Mike Pyle — KO — Welterweight (ferocious finish)
John Makdessi def. Mehdi Baghdad — Lightweight
Anthony Birchak def. Dileno Lopes — Bantamweight
Pedro Munhoz def. Russell Doane — Submission (guillotine) — R1 — Bantamweight (PoN $50k; Munhoz’s creative guillotine finish)
Felipe Arantes def. [opponent] — Bantamweight
Marco Beltran def. R. Vieira — [result]
Note: FIVE consecutive submission finishes opened the preliminary card
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: Alan Jouban + Belal Muhammad — $50,000 each
🥇 Performance of the Night: Eddie Alvarez + Pedro Munhoz — $50,000 each
Records & Milestones
• Eddie Alvarez — first fighter in MMA history to win a UFC championship after having previously been a Bellator champion.
• Five consecutive submission finishes to open the card — extremely rare in UFC event history.
• Gilbert Burns’ last-second armbar (3 seconds remaining in R1) — one of the most precisely timed late-round submissions in UFC lightweight history.
• First of three consecutive nights in the UFC 200 Fight Week triple-header.
Legacy & Impact
Alvarez’s LW title win set up his first title defence: Conor McGregor at UFC 205 in November 2016 at Madison Square Garden — the first UFC event held in New York, commercially the most significant event in UFC history to that point. McGregor won by R2 TKO, becoming the first simultaneous two-division UFC champion. The Las Vegas Thursday night that Alvarez became champion was also the beginning of a week that culminated in UFC 200 — Jon Jones’ return fight against Daniel Cormier (subsequently overturned after Jones tested positive for USADA violations), one of the most commercially and narratively eventful weeks in UFC history. Dos Anjos’ LW title loss sent him to welterweight, where he won five of his first seven fights and challenged for the WW title.
Derrick Lewis’ Las Vegas win continued his HW development. Belal Muhammad’s UFC debut FotN established his credentials; his subsequent WW career produced top-five ranking and eventual title fights by 2022-2024. Gilbert Burns’ selfie moment after the last-second armbar became one of 2016’s most iconic post-submission fight moments — a fighter taking a selfie in the octagon 3 seconds after the tap, before the result was even officially announced.
FAQ
Why was Alvarez’s title win historically unique?
No fighter in the history of MMA had won a UFC championship after having previously been a Bellator champion. The two promotions had operated in commercial competition since Bellator’s founding in 2008, and the UFC’s management of champion-to-champion transitions had generally not produced dual-promotion title winners. Alvarez had been in a complex legal dispute with Bellator about his contract terms before the UFC signing — a case that went to arbitration and was widely covered in the MMA media. His UFC championship made him the only fighter who had held the highest championship in both the UFC and Bellator lightweight divisions.
How did Alvarez wobble RDA in round one?
Dos Anjos was known for his durability and his ability to absorb and reset from strikes. Alvarez’s right hand was the fight’s defining offensive weapon: a crushing looping right that generated significant power from his 155 lbs frame. The punch landed cleanly on dos Anjos’ head in the early stages of round one, visibly wobbling the champion. Alvarez recognised the effect immediately and committed to the finish without allowing dos Anjos recovery time. The sequence was consistent with Alvarez’s fighting style: physical pressure, power output, and immediate capitalisation on opportunities.
What was the significance of five consecutive prelim submissions?
Five consecutive submission finishes to open a UFC card is statistically extraordinary. Most UFC cards have a mixture of decision, KO/TKO, and submission results; producing five submissions in sequence requires five concurrent fighters to execute submission offence successfully against five opponents. The Thursday Fight Pass card’s technical composition — featuring multiple Brazilian jiu-jitsu trained fighters and several lightweight/bantamweight matchups where submission grappling is well-represented — contributed to the submission frequency. The sequence became a media talking point for the card’s technical depth beneath the main event.
Who was Belal Muhammad before his UFC debut?
Muhammad had compiled a 9-0 professional record on regional circuits before the UFC signing. He was a Chicago-based welterweight of Palestinian descent known for a physical and pressure-based style. His UFC debut FotN against Jouban — where he was twice dropped but dominated the final round and earned the bonus despite losing the decision — introduced him to the UFC audience as a fighter with elite-level durability and finishing ability. His subsequent career produced consecutive wins over opponents including Curtis Millender, Lyman Good, and eventually Demian Maia before a No Contest against Leon Edwards in 2021 and further top-five WW career development.
How did Gilbert Burns become known for his armbar timing?
Burns is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who had competed at a high level in both gi and no-gi grappling before transitioning to MMA. His Sajewski armbar demonstrated the quality that his competition credentials had established: the ability to transition between submission attempts under pressure and execute a finishing technique when the opponent’s position briefly allows it. The 3-seconds-remaining timing was not the primary intent — Burns was attempting to finish the round with a submission — but the Sajewski tap happened to come with very little time left, creating the memorable optics of a last-second finish that produced a selfie before the bell.
What happened to the UFC 200 event that same week?
UFC 200 took place on Saturday, July 9, 2016 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and drew approximately 19,000 fans. Its commercially prominent main event was originally Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier 2 for the UFC LHW title; however, Jones tested positive for a USADA violation and was removed 48 hours before the event. Brock Lesnar replaced Jones against Cormier on 11 days’ notice, winning by decision (subsequently overturned after Lesnar also tested positive for USADA violations). The UFC 200 week — beginning with Alvarez’s LW title win on Thursday — was one of the most eventful and commercially complex combat sports weekends in modern MMA history.