Eddie Alvarez is here to fight. That's it. "The Underground King" isn't interested in playing a character or engaging in over-the-top WWE-style promotion.
The selling point of a fight should be the fight, according to the Philadelphia native. That's why he says he's felt so at home in ONE Championship since his high-profile move to the Singapore-based martial arts circuit in October. Because he can be himself.
"In America especially, the UFC in particular, I think there's more condoning and pushing of fighters talking disrespectful to each other, more selling of a fight," Alvarez told the Japan Times last week at a Tokyo hotel. "The fans themselves, they don't understand the sport enough to be emotionally invested in it. They need a story, they need s—- talk, they need that in order to watch the fight and pay for the fight.