Eddie Alvarez Plans On Taking Out Mediocre “Cowboy”
UFC lightweight Eddie Alvarez has a pretty big night ahead of him, as he looks to make his debut a good one, against the always dangerous Donald Cerrone….any bets that Cerrone vs Alvarez wins FOTN?
Eddie Alvarez has finally come to the UFC, and hopes to seal the deal with a bang at tonight’s (Sat. Sept 27th, 2014) as he gears up to face Donald Cerrone at UFC 178 in Las Vegas, Nevada. “Cowboy” is red hot property at lightweight right now, and this truly is anyone’s fight for the taking. The anticipation has been building for Cerrone vs Alvarez for a long time now.
For “The Silent Assassin”, Cerrone is just another name to add to the list, and he isn’t impressed by what he has seen of the “Cowboy” in the UFC. Check out what the ex-Bellator boss said to MMAFighting.com:
“I think [Cerrone] is a little past a mediocre Muay Thai fighter, with a good mind of MMA,” says Alvarez. “Stripping everything else away, the cowboy hat and everything else, the fans thinking that he’s God — it’s unbelievable what they think of this guy — my own assessment of him, my real assessment as a fighter, I understand what he’s good at, I understand what he’s weak at, and I’m going to go in the cage, I’m going to move, I’m going to find my openings, and I’m going to do something special.”
Muay Thai is undoubtedly a huge part of Cerrone’s game, but the beauty is how he applies it to MMA; his last two knockouts, against Jim Miller and Adriano Martins, have shown us how well “Cowboy” can mix traditional techniques with excellent timing and MMA footwork. For Alvarez, he feels that he is an underdog in the eyes of the fans at UFC 178:
“They only go for what they’re comfortable with, they never look outside the box,” Alvarez laughs. “They don’t look at a guy like me and then go look at my fights and go, ‘oh, this is a good style match-up, actually.’ They go, ‘Donald Cerrone is very popular! Donald Cerrone is the guy with the cowboy music and s–t!’ They just love him, and they assume I ain’t got a shot in the world.”
“When I fight guys who are really dangerous, when I fight on a big stage and there’s a lot of eyes on me, I step up,” Alvarez says. “I always have in the past. I always step up. I don’t know if it’s my inner show-off, or what it is, but I step up and I step up in a big way. I move in ways that I don’t even know I’m capable of, and that never goes good for my opponents. Man, I’m looking forward to feeling that.”
Only time will tell if UFC jitters hamper Alvarez’s performance, or if he uses those nerves asd positive energy for the fight. Either way, this is still a really tough fight to call. Although I pegged Cerrone for a decision win, I wouldn’t be surprised if this fight went completely the other way.
These guys are elite strikers with solid ground games, and at this level anything can happen.
