Alvarez Skewers Bitter, Angry Little Silva

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Shout out to Al Iaquinta, who was bashing Joe Silva four years before it was cool.

In case you haven’t been paying attention to MMA Twitter these last few days, there has been an influx of fighter stories about former UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, who promotion president Dana White once declared to be the greatest of all time.

Spoiler alert: none of them are good.

The latest combatant to join the Silva pile-on is former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who signed with the organization back in late 2014 and apparently started off on the wrong foot, because “The Underground King” had the audacity to ask for a title fight.

“I am in the restaurant of a hotel a few weeks after the Anthony Pettis fight eating by myself and next to me is Joe Silva with a group of buddies and I believe Sean Shelby, they are having some drinks,” Alvarez wrote on Twitter. “I never interacted with Joe but I took the time to introduce (myself). Next I ask who my next opponent could possibly be and half-joking, half-serious ask for the champion if he’s available. Joe took the opportunity to tell me with the way I am fighting, I’ll never get a title shot as long as he’s around. They all laugh. At this point I am completely embarrassed, I want to hurt him but I just joined this promotion and this guy pretty much makes the rules. So I took the high road and went to my room in a rage.”

At least he got his own poster.

Alvarez was 2-1 inside the Octagon at the time of his Pettis win with both victories coming by way of split decision. While winning close (or ugly) is still winning, perhaps Silva and Co. had higher expectations for “The Underground King” after some of his epic wars against Michael Chandler in Bellator MMA.

“I get a call a few weeks later from Dana (not Joe) asking for the (Rafael dos Anjos) fight,” Alvarez continued. “I thought, ‘Wow this one must of went over Joe’s head.’ Joe’s four foot, a lot of things do. So I get the fight I wanted and Joe didn’t want. I KO RDA and win the world title in the first round. As I make my way out of the ring and into the back guess who is the first guy standing there? Yes, Joe. No ‘congrats,’ no ‘good job’ just a bitter angry small little man. I said nothing, nothing needed to be communicated, I just winked. Success is how you destroy your enemies.”

Alvarez would lose the title to Conor McGregor in his very next fight and put up a 1-1 record with one “no contest” before leaving UFC to try his luck for ONE Championship. As for the filthy-rich Silva, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame following his 2016 retirement.