Alvarez vows to make the lightweight division great again

Lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez took part in a UFC 205 media call, ahead of his first title defense vs. featherweight champion Conor McGregor. The division has never had a champion that successfully defended the title more than three times, but The King of The UnderGround vows to change all that.

The transcription was done by MMAjunkie, which remains a site with tremendous writers, that is being made very nearly unusable by the owners, who loaded up the latest article with not one, not two, but three auto-playing videos, each with sound. Management is doing a massive disservice to the fans, to their great editorial staff, and to their own long-term prospects. It is terrible to see the site the started real journalism in the MMA space being ruined by short-sighted, short-fingered vulgarians, trying to throttle every CPM out of the fans.

That said, here is what Alvarez had to say.

I want to go down as the best lightweight in UFC history – that’s what I’ll go down as, said Alvarez. I’ll start with him, but then I’ll make UFC great again and continue to fight the No. 1 guys who belong here.

I sincerely feel, and felt, I deserve a break. This will be my break, and then we’ll get back to some real s***, fighting the real No. 1 contenders who fight the best guys and earn their way to the title – not the guys who have a funny accent and sell tickets.

Alvarez came into the UFC as the Bellator lightweight champion, but lost his league debut vs. ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone via Unanimous Decision at UFC 178, on September 27, 2014. He then beat Gilbert Melendez via Split Decision, Anthony Pettis via Split Decision, and finally knocked out then champion Rafael dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night 90 in July.

I went in the UFC, and they put me against every single killer in the division one by one by one by one,” said Alvarez. “I didn’t know why. I thought it was because I was coming in a foreign champion from a foreign promotion, but I felt like they put me against murderers’ row, and I survived. I won the world title.”

Now rather than do his first defense against top contenders Tony Ferguson (on an 8-fight UFC win streak) or Khabib Nurmagomedov (undefeated 23-0 win streak), Alvarez gets a money fight with Conor McGregor.

I wasn’t kidding to the media that I thought this style matchup was a good style matchup for me,” he said. “I thought it was easier than what they were feeding me, and I thought financially it would be the best decision. I was killing two birds with one stone. I was getting the easier fight. On top of that, it happened to financially be the best decision. I was killing two birds with one stone. I was getting an easier fight schedule as well as making more money.

I know what I’m capable of, and I can get it done in any manner. If he even thinks about wrestling, his defense is atrocious. He has good striking. His striking is well, but his defense is terrible. Terrible defense. Might be the worst in the division. If he even thinks about wrestling, I might just knock him the f*** out before that. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but you guys are all in for a treat.

UFC 205 takes place on November 12, 2016, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.