Eddie Alvarez: Naysayers are atheists, time to make them believers
Eddie Alvarez has been on the radar of hardcore MMA fans for the biggest part of the last decade. Coming from Philadelphia, Alvarez immediately commanded a presence on the east coast where fans from his hometown would often times travel several hours to pack arenas to see him fight.
Alvarez's star only got brighter when he traveled to Japan for four fights in 2008 where he picked up a few key wins including victories over Tatsuya Kawajiri and Joachim Hansen. From there Alvarez signed with Bellator and became one of the faces of that promotion for the past five years, but for all the work he put in, all the titles won -- he never felt like he truly belonged in the UFC until now.
"It's the right time because I was virtually unknown. Nobody knew what I could do against certain matchups, they never really saw me fight. I added no value to this company," Alvarez said when talking to FOX Sports. "Why would I join a company that I add no value to? So it was important for me to go out there and build myself up so when I came here I can add something to this company. I can bring something to the company. I can step in and fight the best guys."
"I didn't want to come here and fight the last ranked guy and work all the way up. I wanted to come here and I wanted to be ready for a world title fight."
Alvarez is definitely in a prime position in his debut fight as he takes on Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in 24-hours time in the co-main event of UFC 178. While UFC president Dana White hasn't stated one way or the other, Alvarez believes that with a win he will earn the next shot at UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.
"That's what I feel in my head that I want," Alvarez said about the title shot. "I'm not the boss, I'm not the promoter, I'm not whatever, but I think enough of the media feel that way, enough of the fans feel that way. I'm going to do whatever they feel."
As a former lightweight champion in Bellator, Alvarez has been to the top of the mountain before and he's also fallen down again. In 2011, Alvarez lost his belt to upstart fighter Michael Chandler in a war that ended with the champion being submitted in the fourth round.
It marked only the second loss for Alvarez in the last seven years.
He started over again from the bottom and worked his way back to the championship before defeating Chandler in their rematch. While Alvarez will never say losing was good for him, the defeat to Chandler was a wake up call and the greatest motivation he's had during his entire fight career.
"Not being a champion sucks. It's sort of like the old line absence makes the heart grow fonder. When you get your belt taken from you by another guy and you get called 'former champion' enough, you get pissed off, you get angry and you come in the cage with a different attitude," Alvarez said. "An attitude that just won't quit. An attitude that just won't lose and that did that for me. It put a chip on my shoulder and it worked for me."
Alvarez will fight Cerrone on Saturday night with a chance to potentially become champion again, but he's also competing in a different battle as well. He's fighting public perception that because he came from another organization that he can't hang with the best of the best in the UFC.
Fighters from the WEC had to go through similar circumstances as well as the top names from Strikeforce. Alvarez is happy to prove all the naysayers wrong by beating Cerrone and then challenging for the UFC lightweight title.
"It's not to show myself -- I know what I can do. It's to just show the fans. I know something they don't. They can say and have their opinions, but I know something inside that they don't," Alvarez said.
"They're atheists, they're non-believers and they only believe what they see. So it's up to me to go out there and make them believers. I'm going to preach the gospel and I'm going to show them something cool."
