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Eddie Alvarez moving on from 'disastrous chapter' against Conor McGregor
Eddie Alvarez hasn't experienced too many bad nights at the office in his nearly 14-year long career, but it's hard to argue against his last fight against Conor McGregor probably being the worst.
Weeks of trash talk exchanged between the two fighters culminated in the main event at UFC 205, which was the first event the promotion was holding at Madison Square Garden in New York — a hop, skip and a jump away from Alvarez's home neighborhood in Philadelphia.
Alvarez had touted ever since the fight was made that he was too big, too strong and too good for McGregor, and he was going to be the person to expose the loud-mouthed Irishman for the fraud he really was.
Until he wasn't.
McGregor put on one of his best performances to date as he picked Alvarez apart before finishing the fight by TKO in the second round to become the first ever simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history.
Meanwhile, Alvarez was forced to mire in his own words and promises about how he was going to be the man to dethrone McGregor but instead went home without his title belt. Months later, Alvarez has gained some perspective on the fight and as much as the loss will always eat at him just like every defeat he's suffered during his career, he's found the way to move forward and that's by just getting back into the cage and doing what he does best.
"I'm excited cause it was a small chapter in my full book that will be my career. It was a disastrous chapter but now we get to write some new good ones," Alvarez told Brian Stann on his Sirius XM show this week.
"Had a bad night in November and no problem, got back on the horse probably about six weeks ago. Met back up with my coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, Mark Henry and everybody and we formulated a plan to come back, to take over the division that I believe is mine."
Alvarez offers up no excuses about why he lost the fight to McGregor other than to say that things didn't go his way that night.
Alvarez had a game plan going into the five-round title bout, but then one thing went wrong and it just multiplied over and over again until the fight was finished.
"It's war," Alvarez said. "You have a plan until you're in it."
Afterwards, Alvarez says it was also important for him to answer questions about what he did wrong and how he would bounce back from it.
Needless to say, Alvarez probably wanted to be anywhere else in the world that night, but he always wants to set a good example for his children and that was a golden opportunity to show that he was a champion as a winner and coming off a loss.
"Me by myself, the athlete part of me, the ego inside of me and everything like that I would have never been able to step up and do that but I have three boys and they're getting older now and they're competing and they're in soccer leagues and they're competing on their own now. So I have a bigger role than just myself. I understand that. I'm not always doing how I feel inside, but I'm doing what I feel is right," Alvarez said.
"To be able to put a suit on, step up and admit what I did wrong and move along, that's the most important thing. That's what being a champion is about. That's what I pride myself on doing."
Alvarez says he's been back in training for several weeks and now he's excited to move forward in his career with a fight against top 10 ranked lightweight Dustin Poirier at UFC 211 in Dallas.
"Every once in a while you have a down spot, you lose," Alvarez said. "It's important to overcome it and get back and get re-excited."
