Eddie Alvarez Talks Bellator, Shinya Aoki

by Kid Nate on May 29, 2009 7:03 AM EDT in News Comment 14 comments

MMA Mania interviews Eddie Alvarez. He talks about his future after the Bellator tournament:

Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): You obviously have one more fight left under Bellator and you said one more over in Japan. What is going to be your mentality after you complete those two fights? Are you going to explore all your options at that point?

Eddie Alvarez: No, I’m very happy with Bellator. The thing with K-1 is that I signed with them a while ago and I just so happened to still have one fight left for a rainy day or if something happens. Right now my main concern is Bellator. I’m out here with Bellator and they’re treating me good. I want to continue to have success with Bellator and to have myself grow as a fighter along with the promotion.

He also talks Shinya Aoki:

Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): You took on Shinya Aoki next under the K-1 banner and he was able to catch you with a heel hook in the first round. Do you feel like you made a mistake in that fight or did he simply catch you and you have to tip your cap to the guy?

Eddie Alvarez: I think I have to tip my cap to the guy. I was in the best shape of my life. I felt very ready and very prepared. I think I underestimated the whole leg lock submission. I didn’t respect it. I think the way to win that fight was to put him in my world and capitalize as soon as possible and end the fight.

...

Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): I understand Aoki tweaked your knee a bit. How bad did he hurt your knee with the submission? Did you tear anything? How long were you out?

Eddie Alvarez: He tore up my MCL and my LCL. He didn’t tear them completely. I just had to be out and rest and everything. I’m 100% now but after that fight it was pretty bad. It was hard to walk.

Lots more interesting stuff in the interview. Go read the whole thing.

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Thanks. That leg lock was pretty painful to watch.

by Ahhhoki on May 28, 2009 9:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

as much as I want bellator to succeed, I’m really hoping he either gets higher caliber opponents there, or he moves to another place.. I want to see him against the top guys.. If he does sign with the ufc, I think a fight against sherk would be a decent measure on where he stands.

weoweoweo .deviantart .com

by Anton Tabuena on May 28, 2009 10:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If not

Jz or aoki rematch?

weoweoweo .deviantart .com

by Anton Tabuena on May 28, 2009 10:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

man that would be great (Eddie vs. Sherk). I could win back all that money Sherk cost me because i think there is 0 chance Eddie would lose that fight.

and that link to mmamania for the interview is really good, thanks. Luckily Eddie is young enough (25 i believe the article said) that Eddie has time to come to the UFC. I know he has talked about it a few times, but it won’t be any time soon. It’s funny too because Eddie is Dana’s kind of guy, i mean the guy still wanted to fight Aoki with his eyeball coming out of his head.

by mo dogg on May 28, 2009 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If Sherk had actually decides to use his wrestling I think he is second only to BJ in the division.

by SamCupitt on May 29, 2009 12:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah,

although after 3 straight trex boxing fights, i kinda lost faith in seeing the old sherk again..

if half of the old sherk and half of the new sherk would show up against alvarez, we’d have a pretty good fight..

weoweoweo .deviantart .com

by Anton Tabuena on May 29, 2009 4:25 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"I think I underestimated the whole leg lock submission. I didn’t respect it."

I’m not sure if he’s referring to this particular submission or lower extremity submissions as a whole but if it is the latter he falls into the strangely large group of fighters with little to no BJJ training that are disturbingly flippant towards submissions.
I have always been on the fence about whether attempting a career with blind ignorance towards half of your field is either admirably confident or impressively stupid.

by Simco on May 28, 2009 10:17 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Not to say that leg/ankle locks are nonexistant but compared to chokes and armbars/kimura, they’re few and far between.

I think that’s what Alvarez is talking about… he didn’t really expect it.

by Sergio Hernandez on May 28, 2009 10:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

True...leglocks are rare,

but you’d think that when going up against a submission specialist of Aoki’s caliber, one would train leglock defense at least a little bit.

Machida wasn’t expecting Tito to throw up a triangle, nor was Alves expecting Hughes to go for armbars from his back, but both of those guys defended the sub properly.

by Scott Haber on May 28, 2009 11:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree 100%.

Now go back in time to December 29 and tell Alvarez that. =)

by Sergio Hernandez on May 29, 2009 9:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I see a lot of fighters who seem ignorant to a certain aspect of the game. Guys like Brett Rogers say shit like “I feel safe with the jiujitsu game. I know he has a background in that but he’s just another man.” I mean, he can’t honestly believe he can hang on the ground with Arlovski, or even 80% of pro MMA heavyweights. Things like that frustrate me but I usually just chalk it up to my own ignorance of being a fighter. But seriously. Some MMA fighters should actually watch top-level MMA. It would do wonders for them.

by Ahhhoki on May 29, 2009 1:14 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Eddie in Bellator

I don’t think Bellator is the right place for Eddie

by Bandaka on May 29, 2009 4:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreeing with Bandaka

I agree with you, Bandaka. lol

Seriously though Eddie needs to be in UFC or Strikeforce. Nowhere else. He just likes the money he’s making in Bellator and the fact that they are probably treating him pretty damn good right now.

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on May 29, 2009 8:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He needs to be in the UFC or DREAM. Or at the very least, Strikeforce or Sengoku. The tournament he was in had no real talent to oppose him. And most of the best guys are already signed to other organizations.

by AlwaysRelaxing on May 29, 2009 8:49 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs