The UFC lightweight champion thinks Conor McGregor’s die-hard following needs to wake up.
Eddie Alvarez has made no secret of his opinion that ‘The Notorious’ would make an easy night’s work for him.
After claiming the 155 lbs title earlier this month by brutally finishing Rafael dos Anjos during international fight week, Alvarez insisted that a potential super-fight with the reigning featherweight champion would act as a “gimme fight” compared to the competition he’s faced since making the switch from Bellator two years ago.
Newly crowned lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez wants "gimme fight" with Conor McGregor https://t.co/gmkEPaZ4nR
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 8, 2016
Speaking at a UFC 201 fan Q&A on Friday, Alvarez doubled down on his theory that McGregor has only been handed favourable opponents in the UFC and has been protected from wrestlers thus far.
“You McGregor fans are a bit swayed, you’re a bit biased and you aren’t seeing what I see as a fighter,” Alvarez said. “What I’m seeing are not the right style match-ups. He’s fighting the perfect style match-ups for himself and he’s not fighting the guys that can threaten him the way I can or the way any of these wrestlers can threaten him.
“If you look at his fights he’s not been in a lot of bad positions and there is a reason for that. The style match-ups have been in his favour and I’m not the style match-up that is in his favour. I can put him in bad places and I don’t think he will be able to deal with that or overcome it.”
Alvarez has a growing queue forming behind him in the lightweight division with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson vying for the first crack at his title after both defeating short notice and relatively unheralded opponents in their most recent outings.
But the Philadelphia fighter thinks both men have a bit more proving to do than simply overcoming the likes of Darrell Horcher and Lando Vannata if they are to be rewarded with a title shot.
“Look, when I came here to the UFC I fought every top guy, everyone from top ten to who was in front of me,” Alvarez said. “I didn’t fight number thirty or number twenty-five, number forty or number fifty and then say I want a title shot. I said I want to fight that guy because he’s the best, that guy because he’s better, that guy because he’s better than him and then I said I want to fight the champ.
“That’s what I did to get my title shot and that’s what you do when you want to fight the best guys in front of you,” he added. “You don’t just rack up a great record by fighting thirty, forty and fifty and then say I want a title shot.”
It all seems to add up to one fight that’s on Alvarez’s mind and that’s against a certain mouthy Irishman.
“Look, I fight the best, he fights the rest. That’s how it goes. Tony is calling me out, Khabib is calling me out – when you win the belt, everyone just calls you out. I got my own agenda, I’m just trying to get this fight (with Conor McGregor).”
