Sam Alvey, Ryan Spann (©UFC)

Ryan “Superman” Spann, 28, of Beaumont, Texas, United States was one of the winners at “UFC 249.” It was his fourth victory in the mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is based in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Featuring 11 MMA matches, “UFC 249” took place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, USA on May 9, 2020. In the first bout of the evening, Spann fought Sam “Smilin” Alvey, 34, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA in the light heavyweight division.

Dan Miragliotta served as the referee. After three five-minute rounds, the light heavyweight contest was left in the hands of the judges, who scored it 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28.

In the end, Miragliotta raised the hand of Spann. The Texan MMA fighter was declared the winner via split decision.

While almost all major international sports events have been either cancelled or postponed, the UFC held “UFC 249” amid the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As of May 9, 2020, the U.S. listed 1,346,354 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 80,007 died from a disease caused by the virus and 236,825 recovered from it.

Seven countries were represented at “UFC 249” namely were Brazil, Cameroon, Cape Verde, France, Russia, Suriname and the U.S. Alvey and Spann were two of the 16 fighters who represented the U.S.

Winning at “UFC 249” improved the professional MMA record of 18 wins and 6 losses. On the other hand, Alvey now has 33 wins, 14 losses, 0 draw and 1 No Contest.

Competing professionally since 2013, Spann joined the UFC in 2018. The first three opponents he defeated in the promotion were Luis Henrique Barbosa de Oliveira, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Devin Clark.

Spann is now riding an eight-bout winning streak. He ties reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones, 32, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA and Magomed Ankalaev, 27, of Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia for the longest active win streak in the light heavyweight division of the UFC.