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Eddie Alvarez has competed and won world titles in several promotions, including the UFC and Bellator, and this Saturday night the longtime MMA veteran will toe the line with ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry in the BKFC 56: Perry vs. Alvarez headliner. This will all be happening at the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Before moving up in weight to face Perry, ‘Alvarez’The Underground King’ caught up with Bloody Elbow for an exclusive interview.
We had to ask Eddie Alvarez about the size discrepancy he faces at BKFC 56, and even asked Eddie if he has seen the size of Mike’s Christmas tree. Not only is Eddie not worried about the size of Perry, but he also responded with a jovial tree-off challenge. He didn’t accuse Perry of having a fake tree, but he did mention how he personally only does the real ones.
His last time out, Eddie Alvarez defeated Chad Mendes in a thriller at BKFC 41 back in April of this year. The last time we spoke to Mendes, he spoke about how delightful it was competing in a combat sport where he didn’t have to grapple. Alvarez shared his sentiment on this topic when asked the same thing, and even went on to blame wrestling for the bulk of MMA-related injuries.
Eddie Alvarez has put away plenty of his opponents, but we asked him to pick his all-time favorite finish. Spoiler alert, it’s Justin Gaethje. We also inquired about the one fight that got away, and Eddie has always thought that a fight with Jorge Masvidal would be great for the fans. Alvarez admitted that he’s kind of glad that matchup never happened, though, because of how big of a Masvidal fan he has become.
This article was already getting long, so you will have to peep the video to hear what he had to say when asked about who has hit him the hardest. I’m not saying he’s accused Tatsuya Kawajiri of having loaded gloves in Japan, but he kind of accused Tatsuya Kawajiri of having loaded gloves in Japan.
The man behind BKFC 56: Mike Perry vs. Eddie Alvarez, David Feldman, also just caught up with Bloody Elbow for an interview. That chat can be found here, and can also be viewed towards the bottom of this page.
BKFC 56: Mike Perry vs. Eddie Alvarez takes place on December 2nd, at the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The main event starts live on several platforms, including FITE.tv at 9 p.m. ET. The prelims begin at 8 p.m. ET.
Eddie Alvarez video interview
Eddie Alvarez asking for Mike Perry
EM: You’re heading into BKFC 56: Mike Perry vs. Eddie Alvarez this Saturday, in Salt Lake City, UT to take on Platinum Mike Perry, and I gotta be honest with you ― this fight gives me butterflies. I spoke to BKFC President, David Feldman, recently and he told me that you asked for this fight, right?
EA: It’s just the reason you just said you, you got butterflies. I don’t want to be involved in fights that fans didn’t care about, and I I’m never involved in fights when I’m fighting opponents that I know for sure I can beat. That’s not my M.O. That’s not why I’m in this. I joined this sport to go after the best fighters in the world, and if you considered yourself that in your respective sport, then I was coming after you.
I’m more curious than I am worried about winning. I need to know that I beat the best guy. That I did it honest. I went after the best guys. And I think right now, Mike Perry, he’s undefeated. The fans love him. He gets a lot of attention, and I think this fight is for you guys. I think this is the perfect fight to get everyone excited, including myself.
Fighting at 175-pounds
EM: I spoke with your last opponent, Chad Mendes, recently and he was telling me how much of a blessing it was to move up in weight. You’re fighting Perry at 175. Do you feel better not having to deal with cutting down to 155 anymore?
EA: The truth is, I can’t make 155 anymore. Even in my scans and stuff. My muscle mass is like 167. I’m like 167-168 pounds of muscle on my body, so I’d have to cut into a lot of muscle, a lot of water, just to get to 55. But since I left UFC and I’ve been fighting outside of that, my body composition went up since I’ve been fighting at 170. I fought at 170 over in Asia. I moved back here, and I could walk around as high as 200, over 200 sometimes, depending on how far I am out of camp.
Injuries come from wrestling
EM: Another thing Chad touched on is how much he enjoyed not having to grapple in a training camp. Do you share that sentiment?
EA: I do because like grappling is the exhausting part, right? But it’s not only the exhausting part, that’s where all the injuries happen. Every injury in MMA. If I had to say the percentage of injuries, where they come from, I would say like 70% of all injuries come from wrestling. It’s not even jujitsu, it’s wrestling itself. Just scholastic wrestling is really tough on the body. Your ligaments, your tendons have to be good and strong. As strong as can be. And sometimes when you’re cutting weight, and you’re depleted, and you’re moving like that, injuries happen all the time.
Sizing up Perry
EM: You had a face off with Mike Perry recently. What do you think of the size discrepancy? Was he bigger than you thought? Smaller than you thought?
EA: I think his structure like he’s a muscular, but he’s a smaller welterweight. He’s not a big welterweight, you know. So like I think he’s like a medium sized welterweight, and I’m probably a welterweight. I would consider myself maybe on the bottom end of welterweight. He’s probably at the mid tier. I don’t think he’s a giant welterweight. I don’t think there’s going to be a massive, I probably step in the cage 190-ish the night of the fight.
Eddie Alvarez challenges Mike Perry to a Christmas tree-off
EM: Did you see the size of his Christmas tree?
EA: Haha I’d probably bet my tree every year is bigger than this. We’re gonna have to have a tree-off. I get a live tree every year, though. But every time I go in I make sure I say, ‘I want the largest one you got in the whole damn building.’ But we get live trees every year, we don’t get the fake ones, so.
Body punches during faceoff
EM: What was the deal body punches during the faceoff? What gave you guys the idea to do that?
EA: We didn’t have the idea. That was Mike’s idea. Mike started punching me. If he touches me, I’m gonna touch him back. If he spits on me, I’m gonna spit on him back. If he slaps me I’m going to slap him back. It’s par for the course. I’m a decent enough counter fighter. If he punches me, it’s only right that he gets it back. So, like he tapped me, I tapped him. Then he hit me a little harder, I hit him a little harder. And then it was what it was. It was fun.
Advice for switching promotions
EM: You’ve fought for pretty much all of the top organizations out there; Bodog, ShoXC, Dream, Bellator, UFC, ONE, and now BKFC. Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give fighters when it comes to switching leagues?
EA: [See video.]
Bellator going away
EM: You were at Bellator 1 in 2009, and here we are in 2023 and PFL just bought them. Are you surprised at all that Bellator is going away?
EA: Am I surprised? I can’t say I am, considering like the last two years it kind of was slowly happening, right? We all seen it happening. It wasn’t like we seen some sort of catalyst coming along that may take it to the stratosphere, like big tournament or anything like that. It was slowly like putting less cards on, putting less.
And the best thing about Bellator is it does have really good assets like Corey Anderson, and [Vadim] Nemkov, and [AJ] McKee, and the Pitbull Brothers. They have great, great fighters and assets to work with, and I think it’s a good job PFL bought them. But I think that places PFL in the driving seat to be a surefire number two in MMA.
Favorite all-time finish
EM: Speaking of the Pitbull Brothers, I remeber when you kicked Patricky in the head. That was wicked. Was that your favorite finish?
EA: I like the sloppy messes that you just gut out, and then you somehow find the power. Like a Justin Gaethje finish. Like, we’re going to war, and next thing you know, boom. One of us will go down. So like that, that’s the kind of knockouts I like. Where it’s blood and guts. Everyone’s expecting us to kind of ride it out and the bell is gonna ring. You find you find, summon up, some energy within you that kind of gets something. That knockout was probably one of the tops.
Tatsuya Kawajiri with loaded gloves in Japan?
EM: Out of everyone you have faced, who hit you the hardest?
EA: [See video.]
Eddie Alvarez vs. Jorge Masvidal?
EM: Is there anyone that you have always wanted to face, but never got the chance to compete against?
EA: Maybe a part of me is a little bit glad about it because like watching Jorge kind of do what he did towards the end of his career, I was on the Street Jesus train. I wanted to see him. I think we started, we both started in 2003, and I just wanted him to win.
Every time I see him on TV, and he was resurrecting his career and doing what he was doing, I was just so for him. So kind of happy neither one of us had to take a loss off the other one, so. End up being a good thing. I’m a Masvidal fan, but that was probably the one that kind of got away that fans probably would have been happy to happen.
BKFC 56: Mike Perry vs. Eddie Alvarez Free live stream Full fight card
Main card
- – Mike Perry vs. Eddie Alvarez: Middleweight
- – Ben Rothwell vs. Todd Duffee: Heavyweight
- – Jeremy Stephens vs. Jimmie Rivera: Bantamweight
- – Christine Ferea vs. Bec Rawlings: (W) Flyweight Title
- – Kai Stewart vs. Howard Davis: Featherweight Title
- – Arnold Adams vs. Mick Terrill: Heavyweight Title
- – Ben Moa vs. Bridger Bercier: Heavyweight
- – Mike Jones vs. Erick Lozano: Light Heavyweight
Prelims
- – Keegan Vandermeer vs. Esteban Rodriguez: Cruiserweight
- – LJ Schulz vs. Danny Hilton: Lightweight
- – Trever Bradshaw vs. Troy Dennison: Welterweight