Eddie Alvarez

Edward “The Underground King” Alvarez is an American mixed martial artist and former lightweight champion of the UFC. Alvarez is the only fighter to hold titles in both Bellator MMA and the UFC.

Eddie Alvarez is of Puerto Rican and Irish descent.

Eddie Alvarez’s career before the UFC

Eddie Alvarez made his MMA debut in 2003 at Ring of Combat, he won his debut by KO in the first round. Alvarez continued winning his first 10 fights, winning two titles, the Reality Fighting welterweight championship and MFC (later promoted to Bodog) welterwight championship.

Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez – Photo by Vince Cachero/MMAnytt.se

His first loss in MMA came to Nick “The Goat” Thompson by TKO in the 2nd round. Alvarez rebounded with 5 straight wins, against Andre “Dida” Amado and Tatsuya Kawajiri. He had an epic win over tough Norwegian Joachim Hansen which made Alvarez a huge star in Japan.

He to Shinya Aoki at K-1 Dynamite!! Power of Courage 2008 by heel hook in the first round, the fight was for the WAMMA lightweight championship.

Eddie Alvarez entered the first Bellator Lightweight Tournament in 2009. He won two fights by submission and fought Toby Imada for the inaugural Bellator Lightweight Championship. He defeated Imada by rear naked choke in the 2nd round.

He defended his title two times, and fought once outside the promotion, a victory against Katsunori Kikuno.

Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler

Eddie Alvarez fought up-and-comer Michael Chandler at Bellator MMA 58 in November of 2011. The fight was back and forth with both fighters beaten and bloody. In the fourth round Chandler hit Alvarez with a right hand and took his back, finishing off the champion by rear naked choke.

Donald Cerrone vs. Eddie Alvarez – Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Alvares rebounded with two stoppage over Shinya Aoki and Patricky “Pitbull” Freire to get another shot at becoming the lightweight champion of Bellator.

He faced Chandler for a second time at Bellator MMA 106 in November of 2013. Alvarez won the rematch by decision but it was controversial. After a contract dispute with Bellator, Alvarez was released and joined the UFC

Eddie Alvarez in the UFC

Eddie Alvarez signed with the UFC in 2014 and made his debut at UFC 178 – Johnson vs. Cariaso in September the same year. His debut came against top ranked lightweight Donald Cerrone. Alvarez lost his debut by decision.

Alvarez rebounded and won two straight fights against former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez and former UFC champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis. The win against Pettis gave Alvarez a chance to fight for the UFC Lightweight belt.

Eddie Alvarez – Photo by Vince Cachero/MMAnytt.se

Eddie Alvarez vs. Rafael dos Anjos

Eddie Alvarez faced champion Rafael dos Anjos on UFC Fight Night 90 – dos Anjos vs. Alvarez. Alvarez connected with an overhand that stunned the champion. Alvarez went to work with a flurry of punches and the referee stopped the fight at 3:49 of round one.

It was announced that Alvarez would fight featherweight champion “The Notorious” Conor McGregor in the headlining fight at UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor, UFC’s first event at the iconic Madison Square Garden.

Eddie Alvarez vs. Conor McGregor

Alvarez made his first attempt at defending his belt against McGregor on November 12th, 2016. Alvarez was clearly the slower man and McGregor won by TKO in the second round.

He faced Dustin Poirier in the next fight and landed two illegal knees to his opponent, and the fight was declared a “No Contest”.

Next he faced off with Justin Gaethje at UFC 218 in Detroit. After a brutal war he knocked out Gaethje with less than 2 minutes left of the last round by a beautifully placed knee.