Eddie Alvarez is all about pushing forward, and he’ll have the opportunity to make that happen in a meaningful way Wednesday at ONE on TNT IV.
If it feels like it was just an Alvarez (30-8) fight week, it’s because it was. The former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion fought April 7 and had a disqualification loss against Iuri Lapicus when it was deemed he landed illegal punches to the back of the head early in the first round.
The result was controversial and sparked outrage, but in the end it was made somewhat right. A committee appointed by ONE Championship reviewed the result, and it was overturned to a no contest, taking the loss off Alvarez’s record. He still thinks it should’ve been a TKO win in his favor, but said he can live with the outcome.
“I think it’s a happy medium,” Alvarez told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “In this situation, it was so hectic. Everything happened so fast that it was unfortunate that I’m not going to be totally happy and nobody is going to be totally happy. So we had to compromise and split it down the middle and be somewhere in between. The no contest is good. I didn’t want to take a loss on what seemingly was a TKO win. But I look at it as a TKO win for me. I’ll give him a rematch if that’s what they want to do, a rematch. But I look at it like I just took out the No. 2 guy in 30 seconds and now I get a chance at another ranked opponent.”
Alvarez returns to action just three weeks after the bout with Lapicus when he takes on Rae Yoon Ok. After fighting April 7, he got back Stateside on April 11, only to fly back overseas April 24 after just a few days of training.
At 37, it seems like a lot to put on his body and mind. However, Alvarez said he likes the challenge of it all and feels prepared for the bout with Ok (12-3), which takes place at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore and airs on TNT.
“I think this is the closest turnaround (of my career),” Alvarez said. “I think it’s necessary at my age. It’s difficult to get excited about a fight or fighting after two decades of doing it – to be able to stay in it, to be dedicated to it. I feel like I’m 20 again. I’ve never been this involved in fighting. It consumes my life, but not to this degree. I usually fight, then take a large amount of time off and vacation with my family and get that out of my system before I get back into a fight again. But to go back-to-back, I did that when I was young. So, I feel young again.”
Alvarez is looking to become the first in MMA history to earn the championship trifecta of holding belts in UFC, Bellator and ONE Championship. He’s had some hiccups since debuting in his current promotion in March 2019, but said he’s gathering momentum toward a crack at lightweight champion Christian Lee.
He expects this fight with Ok to be the one that gets him over the hump, especially because he envisions the contest ending a knockout.
“I feel like if we get into a dog fight, he’s a guy that will stay in there, stick his nose in there, and he’ll throw punches,” Alvarez said. “If he’s willing to do that, I think we can score a knockout here. … I don’t feel like I need any other fights to prove myself. I feel like going out here and putting a stamp at the end of TNT, at the end of this season, and putting a stamp on it and getting a big win over this, I feel like I’ve earned my shot.”
A matchup with Lee (15-3) is one that is captivating to Alvarez. The 22-year-old champion called out Alvarez following his most recent title defense against Timofey Nastyukhin at ONE on TNT II on April 14, and the two sides appear to be on a collision course.
Alvarez said he’ll be pursuing that fight hard after a win on Wednesday, and if for some reason it doesn’t happen, he said he won’t be the one to blame.
“He says my name, and when you’re the champion and you win and you call someone out, it’s like, ‘OK, that’s going to be the next fight.’ For me I’m like, ‘OK, we’ll fight for the title.’ Then it never happens, then it never happens. But he keeps saying my name, he keeps saying he wants to fight me, but the fight’s never happened. The chip’s getting bigger on my shoulder. It’s like, ‘You can run, but you can’t hide.’ I’m coming.
“I’m going to defeat all the competition that’s in front of me. I’m going to beat them all, then I’m coming after you. He has an opportunity to beat someone who actually did some great things – beat someone who is great. If he don’t fight me and he decides to run to the welterweight division, do whatever he’s dreaming of, it’ll be his loss, not mine.”
