Eddie Alvarez Not ‘Super Excited’ For Rematch Against Dustin Poirier
Eddie Alvarez has faced a long list of legends during his career and that’s why it takes a lot for him to get excited about any particular matchup these days.
On Monday, the UFC officially announced that Alvarez would take on Dustin Poirier in the main event at UFC on FOX 30 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on July 28 but even that matchup doesn’t seem to get the former champion all that exhilarated.
Despite the controversial ending to their first fight where Alvarez blasted Poirier with a pair of illegal knees that ultimately led to the bout being stopped and declared a no contest, the Philadelphia native never really felt like there was much unfinished business to settle.
Still that’s the matchup the UFC wanted to offer Alvarez so he accepted and will now face Poirier in July.
“There’s not too many guys in the division that excite me to fight. To be honest, Dustin don’t even excite me to fight but he’s been winning, I respect him and the UFC wants it to happen and I’m doing it,” Alvarez said on a recent live session on Instagram. “I only really want to fight Khabib [Nurmagomedov] or fight someone like Nate [Diaz], a bigger name that people respect and a lot of people think highly of.
“They’re probably the only two guys who would do anything for me to up what’s going on in my career. Dustin, I’m not super excited about fighting him but I will.”
There has been talk about a rematch between Alvarez and Poirier almost since the instant that the last fight ended, although it never came together until now.
Alvarez moved onto a fight against Justin Gaethje after they coached against each other on “The Ultimate Fighter”. Meanwhile, Poirier ended up facing Gaethje as well just recently as well as picking up a win over former champion Anthony Pettis.
Of course, Poirier has been calling for the rematch with Alvarez for months while accusing the former champion of avoiding a fight with him.
Alvarez says that couldn’t be further from the truth as he claims he’s never been seriously offered the rematch with Poirier until this latest fight was signed.
“Regardless of what Poirier says, I was given one bout agreement with Poirier, I signed it and we fought. You guys all seen that fight, you can judge for yourself what happened. I was given the second one yesterday and I signed it,” Alvarez said.
“Not sure what’s going on. I agreed to the fight and that’s what we’re going to do.”