Eddie Alvarez Claims There’s Another Title On The Line Against Justin Gaethje
We are now just days away from one of the most anticipated fights of the year, as former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez is set to take on former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) titleholder Justin Gaethje at Saturday’s (Dec. 2, 2017) UFC 218 from Detroit, Michigan.
Possessing an unbeaten professional record of 18-0, Gaethje has clearly been a difficult puzzle to solve, but Alvarez feels as if that will change come this weekend:
“100 percent,” Alvarez replied on today’s edition of The MMA Hour when he was asked if he has Gaethje figured out. “There’s not really a game plan to be honest with you. Justin has been able to pressure people and cut them off and has done really well. I don’t think that the strategy that I’m able to apply because I’m an athlete…the guys that he has been facing don’t seem to be doing what they should do. I have the answer to what these other guys haven’t been able to do and I’m really excited. This has been the most improvement that I’ve made since I’ve been in the UFC.”
Since winning the UFC lightweight title with a vicious stoppage victory over Rafael dos Anjos in July 2016, Alvarez has hit a bit of a rough patch.
At UFC 205 in November 2016, he was knocked out by Conor McGregor. Then, he met Dustin Poirier at UFC 211 last May, but the bout was ruled a no-contest after Alvarez landed illegal knees.
Ahead of this fight with Gaethje, Alvarez admits that he isn’t sure what’s going to take place, but he did say that it’s going to be ‘f*cking nuts’:
“I’m not expecting a different guy. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. His team knows that and his style has gotten him so far,” he said. “I’m gonna be honest, I don’t f**kin’ know, I don’t have a crystal ball. I don’t know what’s going to happen…I don’t know and I’m not going to lie to the fans. I will say this, it’s going to be f**kin’ nuts because I spent a great deal of this training camp working not giving a f**k myself and I’m getting better and better the less I care. I don’t have a crystal ball but I can tell fans right now, they better have their popcorn and their soda ready for this fight because it’s going to be something special to watch.”
And while he’s certainly looking to inch back towards 155-pound gold, Alvarez is well aware that some things need to be worked out at the top of the division before that can happen. With that being said, however, he feels as if another title will be on the line in his fight with Gaethje:
“I only deal with things I can control and right now there’s a whole other title on the line and that’s the ‘UFC most violent man’. And that title is on the line on Dec. 2.”
How do you expect this fight to play out?
