It’s rare enough you see fans turning on Eddie Alvarez.
Prior to his fight against Conor McGregor, Eddie Alvarez received his fair share of boos. That comes with the territory of trying to derail the hype train of the biggest superstar in the sport.
Once ‘the Underground King’ got knocked out by ‘Notorious,’ it was almost as if some casual fans felt they were allowed to root for him again. To be fair, he gave them a lot of reasons to cheer.
Being a fan of Sean Maguire, showing support for Tyrone GAA and visiting a seriously injured GAA player in Philadelphia really endeared him to Irish fans, in particular. However, the former UFC lightweight champion lost some supporters after UFC Calgary’s headliner. He may have lost even more with his reaction to it too.
It was a huge turning point #UFCCalgary https://t.co/mDwvwqvXPx
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 29, 2018
Tongue-in-cheek?
Alvarez suffered a second-round knockout to Dustin Poirier in Calgary. ‘The Diamond’ floored him after he foolishly landed a 12-6 elbow while he was in mount. Remarkably, his head coach Mark Henry appeared to be instructing him to land the elbow from his corner. The illegal blow along with grabbing the fence and clawing at Poirier’s ear forced referee Marc Goddard to stand it up. The finish came swiftly after that referee’s decision.
This was a rematch of their controversial first fight. That one went down as a No Contest after Alvarez landed a series of illegal knees to the head of his grounded opponent.
So Alvarez’s reference to the series being 1-1 in his subsequent Instagram statement didn’t sit well with a lot of fans.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl8h0MsHcX4/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=1viyu5qgvz6x2
It may very well have been tongue-in-cheek, but a lot of people seemed to think it was bad sportsmanship.
Can you tell me how is it 1-1 ??
— Arif Ahmed (@acube81) August 1, 2018
Technically… you could have a draw or, as you know, a no contest.
— andrew nunez (@andrew_nunez12) August 1, 2018
1-1?? pic.twitter.com/xFk49r2hye
— That Dude (@ThatDude2323) August 1, 2018
There’s no grey area in the record either…IT’S 0-1-1….Not 1-1!!
— Benjamin Sweet (@sweetBenjamin47) August 1, 2018
“That makes us 1-1” pic.twitter.com/RKrAD8YI2B
— Jon (@LWOS_Jon) August 1, 2018
Haha 1-1 don’t be silly.
— Chez Avfc (@AvfcUTV1) August 1, 2018
Your 1-1 comment just trash your sportmanship… Don’t come out like you deserve respect after this stupidity.
— Rafael Rosario (@rrosari5) August 1, 2018
very nice, other than pretending that is 1-1 after those illegal knees
— Your Bud Ben (@GoodTimeHaver) August 1, 2018
1-1? More like 0-1-1 but should be 0-2 as first fight should of been a DQ instead of a NC
— Flex Valentino (@Flex_Valentino) August 1, 2018
