Eddie Alvarez was an MMA veteran of nearly 14 years, stepping into the Octagon as an underdog against a monster in Rafael dos Anjos, but he knew what to do. This was a vintage Eddie Alvarez performance. He let it all hang out at UFC Fight Night 90 on Thursday night and rocked dos Anjos midway through the round, then didn’t let up and refused to let RDA recover. The perfectly-coifed eyebrows of Alvarez pushed down as he smelled blood, unwilling to let dos Anjos do anything but survive. It was brilliant.
Now, Eddie Alvarez becomes the first person to hold both Bellator and UFC belts. The best part? He never lost his Bellator belt. For those of us that have been watching Eddie since the old days, and thought he was going to win that classic DREAM lightweight tournament in 2008, this is sweet. Eddie has been one of the best and most entertaining fighters in all of MMA, let alone the lightweight division, for years. He deserves this. But …
Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson, Donald Cerrone (who he lost to), hell — even Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor wait for Eddie Alvarez. He has a murderer’s row of fighters to go through if he wants to stay on his throne. For fight fans, it’s going to be one fun ride.