For years pundits and fans alike have considered former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez to be amongst the best fighters in the world outside of the UFC. Yesterday news broke that Alvarez was released by Bellator, and only hours later the UFC scooped him up and scheduled him for a fight against Donald Cerrone at UFC 178 in September.
That is right fight fans, Eddie Alvarez is finally a UFC fighter, and he has his eyes set on gold. In a recent interview with MMAFighting, Alvarez detailed his plans for his run at the UFC title:
Look, the only fights I want to be involved with at this time in my career, at this time in my life, are big fights. Dangerous guys, big events, where fans are biting their fingernails and they’re asking themselves, ‘oh my god, we have no clue what’s going to go on.’ Those are the sort of fights that I want to be involved in.
I don’t want to wait around. I’m here for the title. I want to make that clear right from the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, the UFC is the premier company, the best company in the world. But I’m not here just to be a measuring stick. I’m here for the world title. That’s why I signed and that’s what I’m here for. It’s nothing personal, but I’m going to get after these guys hard, man. I’m going to be a dangerous guy to fight.
Alvarez continued to state that his goal is to go 3-0 in the UFC by next year and become the UFC lightweight champion. If Alvarez defeats the red hot Donald Cerrone at UFC 178, he may be in line for a title shot next. Of course, former lightweight champion Benson Henderson, who fights this weekend against Rafael Dos Anjos, will have something to say about that.
