We hope Conor McGregor doesn’t get distracted by who is sitting front row on August 26.
One of the last times McGregor was sitting so close to Eddie Alvarez, he called him ‘a broke bum’, stole his belt and threatened to brain him with a fold-up chair.
Alvarez was the man standing in the way of ‘The Notorious’ and UFC history and, on November 5 last year, he fell hard. McGregor dismantled the Philadelphia native to take his UFC lightweight belt and become, in his words, the champ champ.
Alvarez has since returned to the Octagon but saw his fight with Dustin Poirier ruled a No Contest after ‘The Underground King’ landed illegal knees to the head of his opponent. That fight will not be run back this year as Alvarez next takes on Justin Gaethje at the tail-end of their coaching stints on The Ultimate Fighter.
He spoke extremely well, and humbly, about his former, fierce rival on the 5ive Rounds podcast and revealed he had been following all the build-up to the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight.
“I never really get annoyed with [UFC 205 loss] myself. I’ve dealt with it, forgave myself for it and I have moved on,” he said. “Sometimes, during a regular day, I’ll be back in that moment and think, ‘God damn it!’”
Alvarez insists he bears no ill will towards McGregor and he was glued to all of the press conferences during the four-city world tour to promote the Dubliner’s upcoming boxing debut. He has even scored himself one of the best seats in the house to see if McGregor can add a ‘1’ to Mayweather’s 49-0 record.
“I love fights and when they have this much build-up around them, I enjoy it. I’m going to the fight. I’ll be there, front row.
“A buddy, who sold me his house, got me front row seats. We’ll be there.”
Asked if those tickets are actually going for $40,000 to $50,000, Alvarez explained his friend has ‘fuck you money’ and that they would be flying out to Las Vegas for the fight on a private jet.
As for how the fight will unfold, Alvarez believes the first four rounds will be a compelling watch. He said:
“Conor has about three or four rounds to get this done. When this comes down to being a technical boxing match, which is usually between rounds five and 12, it usually goes to the more technical boxer.
“But within those [first] four rounds, if you don’t think Conor can knock this guy out, you’re an idiot or you just don’t know fighting because it can very well happen.
“If he doesn’t get it done by then, it could look very one-sided.”
Take it from a man who has felt the full force of that ‘Celtic Cross’ from McGregor.
