Alvarez: McGregor 'can't fight for sh*t' and 'don't want to be involved in the sport of MMA'

UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez wasted no time calling out the winner of Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz as his next opponent. That doesn't necessarily mean that's who he'll face next, but it's definitely something that could happen somewhere down the line.

Alvarez has been on the media circuit following his 1st round destruction of Rafael dos Anjos last month, including an appearance on CBS Sports Radio with hosts Tiki Barber (yes, the former NFL running back) and Brandon Tierney. Ignoring the inauspicious start to the interview, with Alvarez referred to as the "light heavyweight champion," Eddie took aim at "The Notorious" one. (Transcription via MMAFighting)

"I don't know him personally, but thank God he's good at talking because he can't fight for shit," Alvarez said. "Look, in this sport - the good thing about the UFC and MMA in general is a lot of it's based on perception. They're very good at tweaking this perception. If I can put the right guy with the right mouthpiece in front of the right opponents, we can build a champion, but he doesn't really have to beat the best guys; we just have to give him the right match-ups. This is what this guy's been given. Any real fighter, anybody who knows the sport of MMA, sees the style match-ups that he picks and understands this guy is not putting himself in any danger. He's not fighting anyone who he feels he can lose to.

"Diaz is a great style matchup for him. The reason he originally picked Diaz is he believed that was a great style matchup for him because Diaz only punches, he don't kick, he don't take down - he does everything Conor wants to do. Conor wants to box. He don't want to be involved in the sport of MMA."

McGregor will soon be rematching Diaz at UFC 202 on August 20th in Las Vegas, Nevada. As was the case in their first matchup in March, this bout will be contested at 170 pounds.

Alvarez also later went on Jim Norton's SiriusXM show and explained why he insists on fighting McGregor. (Transcription also via MMAFighting)

"This is what happens. You win a world title, you beat the best guys in the world, and a lot of these fans are kind of misconstrued about who are the best fighters in the world. They think that because guys are the most popular that means they're the best fighters. So I'll beat a bunch of good guys and then I'll get a ton of fans come up to me and go, 'Do you think you can beat Conor McGregor?' And I'm like, 'Oh my God. You guys are disillusioned.' They think because this man's popular he's good. And neither one of them have anything to do with each other."

You can listen to the full CBS Sports interview in the embeddable player below.