An argument could be made that the best performer of international fight week was new UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez.
Alvarez is the new top dog in a division brimming with dangerous challengers and he wants to make hay while the sun shines in terms of accepting lucrative bouts while he is champion and likely entitled to cuts of pay-per-view revenue.
The Philadelphia fighter knocked out former champion Rafael dos Anjos to claim the 155 lbs title on Thursday night and wasted no time in turning his attention to the winner of the upcoming main event of UFC 202.
“I’ll be there with a bullhorn for that freak show,” Alvarez said of the rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz during an interview on the MMA Hour on Monday.
“The least best lightweights in the division are the highest paid. It’s bullshit. It is, it’s true. It’s bullshit.
“These guys are making the highest dollars. They’re both, I consider lightweights I guess, making the highest dollars of all of us and you’ve got guys like Rafael dos Anjos, Donald Cerrone and myself… real top level guys who are just kind of getting by.
“These two guys need to be taken out and taken out viciously so we can get some of that money.”
Money aside, Alvarez has reasons for taking on both men but he is not afraid to admit that the guaranteed payday that comes with a bout against either man is more tantalising than a title fight against top contenders with a lesser draw, like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.
“Me and Nate almost got in a fight in Mexico,” Alvarez said. “I think Nate got a little emotional because I was fighting (his teammate) Gilbert Melendez and, at the weigh-ins, he does what he does with that whole mean-mugging shit and I approached him about it.
“And I don’t think he liked the way I approached him so we have a small history.”
As for ‘The Notorious’, Alvarez thinks the Irishman is a one-dimensional fighter who didn’t fully pay his dues to get where he is today.
“And Conor’s Conor!” he continued.
"He'd get found out very quickly!" https://t.co/e8QuXAGLum
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 9, 2016
“I thought Conor was good at the one thing he did and he is. He’s very good at the one thing he’s good at but this is mixed martial arts. You can’t do that. You can’t do what he does.
“You can’t fight Dennis Siver and get a title shot. It’s bullshit! You can’t get knocked out by Nate Diaz and then try to fight Mayweather. This has become a circus.
“What is this? It makes no sense to me!”
