LAS VEGAS – Sam Alvey can’t help but smile regardless of what he’s discussing, but even he admits his back is against the wall at UFC on ABC 2.
“I don’t smile because I fight; I smile because my wife’s real hot and takes care of everything for me,” Alvey joked with MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s media day at the UFC Apex. “But yeah, it’s been a rough streak for me, and I’m ready to bounce back, you know, very solid.
“I thought I bounced back last time, and I thought I’d bounced
back the time before that, but this time I mean it. This time, I’m
bouncing back. I’m going to keep my job in the UFC for years to come.”
Alvey finds himself mired in a slump that dates all the way back to 2018, going winless in his past five appearances. But the past two have been especially painful for him, with a split draw against Da Un Jung at UFC 254 this past October and a split-decision loss to Ryan Spann at May’s UFC 249.
Alvey (33-14-1 MMA, 10-9-1 UFC) returns to action against Julian Marquez (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at Saturday’s UFC on ABC 2 event at the UFC Apex. The event’s main card airs on ABC following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
Marquez has said he intends on delivering an exciting finish against Alvey, a man “The Cuban Missile Crisis” actually called “evil” when previewing the matchup.
While it’s hard to think of that word as an apt description of the perennially jovial Alvey, he said he’s not too concerned with Marquez’s approach.
“Mike Perry said the same thing years ago,” Alvey recalled. “At
the end, he said, ‘You know, I was wrong.’ He said, ‘Yeah I’m kind of
sorry for it, but no, you seem like a good dude, Sam.’ I said, ‘Well thank you.’
“So you know what? (Marquez) can think what he wants. For 15 minutes, I’m going to be evil. I’m going to try and shorten his life for 15 minutes, but before and after that, he’s a great dude, and I will respect the hell out of him.”
Whether or not that attitude will propel Alvey to victory remains to be seen, but the 34-year-old veteran says he’s not under any sort of misgivings in terms of what’s at stake in the matchup. Alvey believes nothing short of his fighting future hangs in the balance.
“Absolutely it does (feel like I’m fighting for my job),” Alvey said. “The UFC, they won’t keep me if I lose, if I draw, or if I get poked in the eye again. They’ll probably cut me, as rightfully they should. I haven’t won, and I am a winner, and I’m going to go out there and I’m gonna prove it again this weekend.”
To hear the full interview with Alvey, check out the video above.
Sam Alvey ‘absolutely’ fighting to keep UFC job: ‘For 15 minutes, I’m going to be evil’