Alvarez: Can I have an easy fight please, like Conor?
Eddie Alvarez: “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.”
On Thursday night, Eddie Alvarez became the first fighter to take the Bellator and UFC titles, crushing Rafael dos Anjos in the first. Alvarez took the long, hard, bloody road to the top.
This has always been like a marathon for me, not a sprint, said Alvarez at the post fight press conference, as transcribed by Brent Brookhouse and Ken Hathaway for MMAjunkie. 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.
Like every smart fighter, Alvarez knows who he wants to fight next, and it’s not the murderers row at the top of the UFC lightweight division, which includes Khabib Nurmagomedov and Donald Cerrone. Instead, he wants what he termed a “gimme fight.”
For me, I think, by far, the best lightweight in this division is Rafael dos Anjos,” said Alvarez. “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 Pettis, before him was Gilbert. 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.