Eddie Alvarez Criticizes Value Of UFC Belt
Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez got back into the win column earlier this month at UFC 218, scoring a third-round stoppage victory over Justin Gaethje in one of the best fights of the year.
Moving forward, Alvarez hopes to put on more fights like the one he did on Dec. 2:
“I want the best fights, I want them to be violent, and I want the fans to be jumping and screaming the same way they were on Dec. 2 in Detroit,” Alvarez said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “That felt good to me, so I want to continue to feel good about the fights that I’m in.”
As far as what’s next for Alvarez, it’s currently unclear. With the win, he moved one step closer to a title shot, but the 155-pound title picture is a bit unclear. Champion Conor McGregor hasn’t entered the Octagon since beating Alvarez in November 2016 and interim titleholder Tony Ferguson is currently dealing with an injury and will likely wait for McGregor.
Although Alvarez’s ‘eye’s always on that gold belt’, he’s also well aware of the state of the division:
“I’m a realist,” Alvarez said. “My eye’s always on that gold belt. I feel like I f*cked up, I lost my belt, and I’m pissed about it. But I’m being realistic. I can’t, we can’t make Conor get back in there, he’s going to ask for certain [things], it’s gonna take awhile for that guy to defend that. Tony is waiting for Conor. Tony is going to sit, he’s gonna wait for that Conor fight and try to get that big payday.”
The ex-champion even went on to criticize the value of the belt, which is why he created the ‘most violent’ title for his fight against Gaethje:
“Right now, sh*t just isn’t defined with the title,” Alvarez said. “And to be honest, there’s not a lot of value in it. What value is in it? There’s an interim guy who beat the No. 7 guy to become the champion. That’s not a champion. You can’t bring the No. 7 ranked guy in and then put him against the No 1 contender and he beats him and says now you’re the champion. That’s silly in any organization, any sport, anything. So the champion isn’t defending. So now the value of the belt loses its value. So for me I’m like, let’s make another belt, whoever is the Most Violent. We can make up whatever belts we want.”
Who would you like to see Alvarez fight next?
