Eddie Alvarez captures belts wherever he goes, and after UFC Fight Night 90, he’s the UFC champion.
Alvarez (28-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC) blasted through Rafael dos Anjos (25-8 MMA, 14-6 UFC) by TKO in just three minutes and 49 seconds to win the title.
Speaking about his championship at the post-fight press conference for the event, which took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and streamed on UFC Fight Pass, Alvarez discussed the long journey that led to him capturing the gold.
“This has always been like a marathon for me, not a sprint,” Alvarez said. “Everybody was always asking, ‘When are you going to go to the UFC?’ and telling me what I should do and when I should do it. I just think, if you work hard enough and love something, these belts are a byproduct of it.
"This will not be here forever, but just working hard and doing something you’re passionate about is important. Right now, we have the belt and I’m the champion. I told a lot of people I would be. I’m happy.”
Attention quickly turned from the past to the future. As is the case with any new champion, social media has been alight with ideas of title challengers.
Unsurprisingly, featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s name was brought up by many. McGregor (19-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) was set to challenge dos Anjos for the lightweight belt at UFC 196, but an injury to the Brazilian forced a cancellation.
Instead of his first lightweight bout in the UFC, McGregor met Nate Diaz at welterweight and found himself on the receiving end of a shocking upset loss. The two are now set to rematch in the main event of UFC 202, which takes place Aug. 20 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After talking about the murderer’s row of opponents he faced to become champion at 155 pounds, Alvarez said he welcomes a bout with McGregor. In fact, Alvarez said he would ask UFC President Dana White for a “gimme fight” in the form of the Irishman.
“For me, I think, by far, the best lightweight in this division is Rafael dos Anjos. I had the better night tonight, for sure, but this could go either way. There are great competitors and there’s a real small margin for error. If you mess up once, it could have been me on the other end of that punch.
“This guy (dos Anjos) to the right of me, is the best in the division. To be able to come out with a win over him and before him was (Anthony) Pettis, before him was Gilbert (Melendez). These are the best guys in the division. I’m not taking on top 15 guys. I would ask Dana White please to give me an easier fight like Conor McGregor. I deserve that. I’ve been fighting the best guys. I would like a gimme fight. So, Conor? I more than welcome that.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here