Eddie Alvarez Says Loss To McGregor Was ‘Freeing Nightmare’
After being a champion in Bellator MMA, Eddie Alvarez decided to jump ship and join the biggest promotion in the world, the UFC. Following some impressive wins, he beat Rafael dos Anjos last July to become the new UFC lightweight champion. However, his title defense against Conor McGregor at UFC 205 last November went about as poorly as it possibly could for Alvarez. McGregor dethroned Alvarez with a second-round TKO, but the fight was over long before then, with McGregor dropping Alvarez multiple times in the first. It was a demoralizing loss and one that took a lot to get over. Now, Alvarez is looking to get back in the cage and attempt to climb the UFC lightweight ladder once again as he is set to fight ninth ranked Dustin Poirier at this Saturday’s UFC 211 pay-per-view (PPV) event. Alvarez spoke with The Luke Thomas Show about the difficulties in moving past the McGregor loss.
“Climbing back from the Nov. 5th fight was difficult,” (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “I’d be lying if I told you, ‘Oh I just bounced right back off the mat.’ I needed some serious dusting off. I needed to forgive myself. I’m my own worst critic so I was very disappointed and pissed off at myself about Madison Square Garden. I sat around longer than what I would’ve like to. I would’ve like to just bounce back and just get over it already but it was difficult. It was difficult for me. I put a lot into this so it was difficult but we’re over it and I’m having a great time with training and enjoying myself.”
During the interview, Alvarez does sound like he’s put the loss behind him and is now pumped up for his upcoming fight, which will be a tough challenge. He attributes this attitude to the new perspective he got after the loss.
“I think there’s a freedom in having your worst nightmare come true. As a fighter, your worst nightmare is to get knocked out in front of millions of people. That’s like the dream of waking up naked in your classroom. So getting that out of the way, there’s a freedom in it for me. I never thought it would happen. I never pictured it or visualized it ever happening to me and it happened. I realize after it happened, nothing changed. Nothing changed. My family’s still here, my friends are still here. I’m still the same person. Everybody just wants me to fight again and do well again. Nothing really changed. So there’s a freedom in it and if you haven’t experienced it then you won’t be able to feel the freedom that I have right now.”
With Alvarez having a new perspective, he doesn’t worry too much about the past or the future of his career. He knows that he’s got a lot of work ahead of him to get another title shot but that isn’t his primary goal right now. Instead, he looks forward to fighting Dustin Poirier and beating him. Then he’s eyeing a fight with the man who beat the man who beat him.
“The UFC’s pretty crazy. There’s a couple other guys in front of me but it really depends on how you fight and what kind of show you put on. But I don’t care. I want to knock out Dustin and then I want to get Nate Diaz off his bicycle and get him back in the cage in some way, shape, or form.”
It’s well known by now that Diaz recently appeared on a special edition of The MMA Hour last week where he spoke about various topics. During the interview, Diaz stated that he wasn’t interested in a fight with Alvarez because he “just got melted by the guy I beat up.” However, Alvarez still wants that fight as he thinks there’s an easy way for the UFC to make it happen.
“Money. They’ve got to make it worth his while. We’ll see [if they will]. It’s gonna take the right fight.”
