One Championship: Eddie Alvarez thanks ‘fight gods’ for lightweight grand prix lifeline

Former UFC star says ‘whether I feel deserving is not important’ after surprise return to lightweight grand prix in Manila

‘I can beat any man in the world on any given night and I’m going to start with Eduard Folayang’

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Eddie Alvarez heads back into the One Championship Circle against Eduard Folayang on August 2. Photos: One Championship

Published: 2:49pm, 17 Jul 2019Updated: 8:28pm, 17 Jul 2019

Eddie Alvarez said he was given too much respect in One Championship, and that he felt he hadn’t earned it. Now he’s been thrown back into the lightweight grand prix despite losing his quarter-final fight? Deserving it has got nothing to do with it.

“Whether I feel deserving is not important. Tournaments are always tricky, winning is more about preservation, staying alive, and intelligent training … not just being a better fighter,” Alvarez told the Post.

“In 2007 I watched a man I beat in the second round, Joachim Hansen, win the Dream lightweight Grand Prix after I was disqualified from the tournament due to injury. The fight gods don’t always give victory to the immediate winner, they take all things into account and make their choice accordingly.

“I’m back and given a second chance at glory, nothing else matters. I’ll get my belt, I’m a patient man and enjoy my work.”

The former UFC champion had a rough debut with the Asian MMA organisation in Tokyo, suffering a nasty eye injury in a first-round TKO by Russian knockout artist Timofey Nastyukhin.

Alvarez has a clearer path to the lightweight title – his goal when he signed up with One – with his Manila bout against former two-time champion Eduard Folayang of the Philippines now acting as a grand prix semi-final.