Eddie Alvarez is a former UFC and Bellator lightweight world champion and absolute veteran of the game. Following his UFC run he would briefly find a home in One from 2019-2021. There he would have mixed results winning once, losing twice, and having one no-contest. However, he has found a new calling in BKFC, providing the vet with a late-career resurgence. He won his debut with the promotion in an absolute barnburner with another veteran of the UFC Chad Mendes winning by split decision. He then fought another UFC vet Mike Perry and was stopped in 2 rounds putting up a valiant effort. And now he will be fighting another UFC veteran Jeremy Stephens January 25th. In the build-up to this fight, Alvarez gave an interview with MMA Fighting.
Alvarez’s Insightful Interview
In this interview, he expressed an interesting regret for his career. Alvarez said, “There’s been one time and everybody knows the Conor fight where I went into somewhat near my hometown and I didn’t show up. That was probably the one time that shocked even me.” He elaborated saying, “Because throughout my entire career, home or anywhere nearby, whenever that spotlight’s on me and whenever the stakes are big, that’s when I show up big.” Now there is no shame in losing to McGregor particularly McGregor at his peak in 2016. But, Alavrez was lacking that night performing far better in fights before this and since.
Eddie Alvarez then expressed his desire to try and rectify this. He said, “I’ll be able to make it up to my Philadelphia fans. Look, I got my shot at Madison Square Garden. I hated the way I performed. I hated everything about it. But there’s only one stadium better than Madison Square Garden and that’s the Well Fargo in Philadelphia. I fought all over the world, Russia, Japan, Tokyo, and Costa Rica, and during these moments I may have had a hiccup or something like that but in my hometown, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, New York, all these places, I usually show up big. I’m looking forward to feeling the spirit of the Philadelphia fans behind me at the Wells Fargo on the 25th of January.”
Alvarez is clearly very excited to be fighting so close to home and he deserves it. Alvarez has had a great career and deserves to fight in his hometown particularly as he’s in the back end of his career. Speaking of which Alvarez did hint towards retirement in this interview.
Retirement?
He said, “It’d be completely storybook but I don’t think there is any right, perfect way to go out. I’m going, to be honest with you, I just don’t think there is. I think because it would be saying that one fight would determine your entire career. You can’t do that. One fight will never sum up who I am, whether I won or lost it. You can never say that was one big win, you should go now or that was one big loss, you should go now. I’m defined by the sum of 20 years of fighting what I’ve done and the kind of work I’ve put into this. You can never sum it up by one fight anyways.” A very interesting perspective on a potential retirement fight.
Eddie Alvarez continued saying, “So yes, going into the Wells Fargo, shutting it down at the Wells Fargo, 18,000 screaming fans, it would be an absolute storybook to do it at home. But I’ll never be defined by one fight. One win, one loss, I’ll always be looked at as someone who challenged himself, travelled the entire world looking for the worst motherf*ckers to fight and try to become world champion in whatever promotion I was with. That’s what I want to be defined by. Not just one singular fight, one singular outing.” So, he may retire but Alvarez refuses to be defined by 1 fight.
Longevity
He also discussed his longevity which Alvarez has been fighting since 2003. He said, “I started when I was 19. I’m 20, 21 years into this game. I’ve kept myself healthy,” Alvarez said. “Steroid free my entire career. I think that’s given me longevity. I never had a college wrestling career. That’s given me more career longevity. I’ve taken care of my body. If I had injuries, I would listen to my body and kind of peel back. I wouldn’t fight through injuries. There’s a couple of things I’ve done differently than a lot of regular fighters that allow me to fight so long and have the career I’ve had. So I just kind of keep things open, allows me to fight as long as I have.”
It has worked with Alvarez still performing quite well despite his age and long career. And with a potential retirement fight, we may see the best of Eddie Alvarez with extra motivation. We shall see how Eddie Alvarez looks come January 25th against Jeremy Stephens.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
