Eddie Alvarez: I made up ‘Most Violent’ title because ‘there’s not a lot of value’ in UFC belt
Eddie Alvarez does not think too highly of UFC titles these days, which was why he decided to make up one for himself.
After his third round knockout win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 218, Eddie Alvarez declared himself as the “Most Violent Man” in the UFC today. It is a title that the former UFC lightweight champion is completely content with as of the moment.
With Conor McGregor’s fighting future in limbo and Tony Ferguson injured, the 155-pound division’s title picture is currently at a standstill. And for this reason, Alvarez says his self-proclaimed title actually holds more meaning.
“Right now, shit just isn’t defined with the title. And to be honest, there’s not a lot of value in it,” Alvarez said on Monday’s MMA Hour episode (via MMA Fighting). “What value is in it? There’s an interim guy who beat the No. 7 guy to become the champion. That’s not a champion. You can’t bring the No. 7 ranked guy in and then put him against the No 1 contender and he beats him and says now you’re the champion.”
“That’s silly in any organization, any sport, anything. So the champion isn’t defending. So now the value of the belt loses its value. So for me I’m like, let’s make another belt, whoever is the Most Violent. We can make up whatever belts we want.”
Alvarez admits that he is still riding on the high of his win over Gaethje, and wants his succeeding fights to have the same energy.
“I want the best fights, I want them to be violent, and I want the fans to be jumping and screaming the same way they were on Dec. 2 in Detroit,” Alvarez said. “That felt good to me, so I want to continue to feel good about the fights that I’m in.”
Alvarez has yet to determine his next fight and opponent, but fellow top contender Dustin Poirier is calling for a rematch to settle their previous No Contest decision at UFC 211 last May.