Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): I want to start by going way back to your last fight at welterweight. Nick Thompson handed you your first career loss in 2007. Was he simply too big and did that fight make you realize you needed to be at 155 for good? What did you learn from that experience?
Eddie Alvarez: When I fought Nick Thompson I wasn’t experienced enough. That was the first person that put me in a real fight. Before Nick, nobody had put me in a fight where I had to struggle. He made me deal with adversity and helped me become the fighter I am today. I needed to know what it was like to be in a fight, to be in a battle, a win or lose battle. He put me in a fight and I lost. I learned from it. I’ve come a long way since.
Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): You really burst onto the scene in 2008 in the DREAM lightweight grand prix. You knock off Andre Amade, Joachim Hansen, and Tatsuya Kawajiri in succession but then the officials would not let you continue into the finals against Shinya Aoki because of a cut you sustained in the Kawajiri fight. How bad was the actual cut?
Eddie Alvarez: They didn’t stop it because of the cut. They would’ve let it go on if it was just a cut. My actual eyeball was swelling and it was starting to protrude out of my eye socket. They didn’t let me go on because of my eyeball, not actually the cut.
Eddie Alvarez Interview
Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): I want to start by going way back to your last fight at welterweight. Nick Thompson handed you your first career loss in 2007. Was he simply too big and did that fight make you realize you needed to be at 155 for good? What did you learn from that experience? Eddie…
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