Eddie Alvarez Wants A Better Deal In New UFC Contract
Former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez will face off Dustin Poirier in a much-anticipated rematch in the main event of UFC on FOX 30 on July 28, from inside Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome. The fight represents the final match of Alvarez’s current UFC contract.
Alvarez, 34, has long been recognized as one of the best 155-pound fighters in the world and builds an impressive resume over the course of his Octagon run which began in 2014 and has been competing exclusively against top-tier competition.
Former lightweight champion is hopeful a new deal will get figured out as he wants a better compensation so he will be patient in the meantime. (Via MMAFighting)
“I think we’d get a deal done for sure. We’re just not there yet. I know with the UFC, you never know when you strike a deal,” Alvarez told Luke Thomas on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting). “But I’m patient. I’ve learned to be patient, because in the past I’ve gotten ahead of myself and maybe left a lot of money on the table. I don’t know.”
“I think what’s fair is fair and every fighter, it’s a very individual thing, how much each fighter deserves and should get paid. I think I bring a lot of value, and when I fight I make this company a lot of money and I make a lot of fans excited. I want to be shared with a little bit more than what I’m being shared with. That’s all.”
Eddie Alvarez is confident that he and UFC will come up with a good deal as he’s demanding what he deserves, after putting on lots of fights and entertaining the fans from past few years.
“I don’t believe it’s significant, no,” Alvarez said of what he was asking for. “Considering how much the company makes, no. It’s peanuts — it’s a quarter. They’d be flicking me a quarter, considering what they make when I fight. What I’m asking for is not just what I feel I deserve right now.”
“In the past eight fights, I look at who I fought — co-main and main events, some of the largest cards in UFC history. With the McGregor fight, sell out crowd, selling out MSG. I’ve been involved in some pretty lucrative (fights) and I feel like I should be shared with a little more considering. It is what it is. That’s business, man. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
Both men fought once before in May 2017 in the wild, back-and-forth affair that ended with no-contest after Alvarez landed two illegal knees to Poirier’s head at UFC 211. Poirier since has campaigned for a rematch, while Alvarez has expressed less or no interest and said that Poirier was looking for a way out.
With a win over Poirier, that would put Alvarez near to a title shot as well in high standards in the eyes of UFC, to get his deal done.
