Eddie Alvarez Reveals Why He Doesn’t Care About Justin Gaethje Fight
Eddie Alvarez doesn’t feel like he’s fought his best fight in the UFC just yet, and that may be because he’s been caring too much.
The former lightweight champion has hit some rough times as of late, suffering a brutal knockout loss to Conor McGregor last November and fighting to a no-contest against Dustin Poirier this past May.
Gearing up for his return against Justin Gaethje this December, Alvarez recently said that he’s focusing on ‘not giving a f*ck’ ahead of the fight:
“In my mind, I’m just looking, for myself, I just don’t feel like I’ve fought my best fight in the UFC yet,” Alvarez told MMA Tonight. “I feel like I’m having a moment now where I want to say that I’m not giving a f**k and I feel like the less I give a f**k, the better I fight. I think I cared a bit too much, even in my title fight which I won, I just cared a little bit too much and I didn’t risk enough. I just want to approach the game where I really just don’t give a f**k. I think I fight better that way.
“I think when I entered the UFC [I started caring too much]. There was a big thing, could I compete with the best guys in the world? Could I compete with the guys in the UFC? There was that whole stigma that the guys from the smaller promotions couldn’t hang with the best guys in the UFC so I just let my surroundings and the things I was hearing affect the way I was fighting. It made me focus more on winning than on being me. I was so worried about winning and proving people wrong that I could win the UFC world title, [but] when you get focused too much on winning I don’t feel like you’re able to be your total self. I do better when I care less.
“Any fans tuning in, my preparation purely for this fight, if I’m working anything every day, really hard, I’m working on just not giving a f**k so you might want to tune in for this fight.”
As far as Gaethje goes, the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) champion has proven to be one of the most exciting fighters in the world. He’s also proven that he can compete with the best, as he finished Michael Johnson in his UFC debut earlier this year.
Alvarez made it clear that he respects his opponent:
“I respect the guy. He trains hard, he has a good strong mind, and he’s undefeated. . . He reminds me a bit of myself when I first started and I felt like I was unbeatable. I felt [that way] until I met that one guy. A lot of the things that he does and the way he approaches the game is a lot like myself and he’s just waiting in a couple months to meet that guy.”
What do you make of Alvarez’s approach, and who do you expect to come out on top when these two lightweight contenders meet?
