Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez knocked out Justin Gaethje at UFC 218 in Detroit, to win UFC’s “Most Violent Man” award.
UFC 211’s slugfest between Alvarez and Poirier ended up being ruled a No Contest after Alvarez unintentionally landed a series of illegal knees to Poirier in the second round.
Poirier who recently scores a win over Anthony Pettis at UFC Fight Night 120, and believes the time’s right for a rematch.
The former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Alvarez said Poirier rematch would represent a huge step backward, so he believes it would be the silliest thing he could do.
“Considering what I just did, that would be the silliest thing I could do,” Alvarez said recently on The MMA Hour. “They put me against an undefeated rising star in Justin Gaethje. They were going to give Gaethje a title fight. If Justin Gaethje beat me, he was going to fight for a title. Didn’t happen. I knocked the guy out and he’s never been beat in his life.”
Alvarez says he understands where Poirier is coming from, he would rather wait and pursue a bigger and better fight.
“I respect Dustin for the push, he’s doing his best job,” Alvarez said. “But it’s all for naught. It would be silly for me to let me go backwards and look at that guy. I’m looking the same way he’s looking: Forward at like Tony Ferguson, we’ll keep an eye on the Khabib-Barboza fight. I’m going to do my best to help Edson whoop on Khabib. We’ll see how that top shakes out.”
Alvarez has one more fight left on his current UFC contract and is close to locking up his future with the top mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the world.
“I have one fight left,” Alvarez said. “I’m going to sit down with the boss man. [Dana White] texted me on way home. We had a little bit of a conversation after the Justin Gaethje fight, and I think we’re gearing up to talk about a megafight. It shouldn’t be long, talk to Dana, get some things hashed out and do something big.”
