Tensions run high as UFC headliners tour Calgary
There’s no bigger lightweight fight on the UFC’s 2018 schedule than the matchup between Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier that’s set to headline the company’s return to Calgary this summer.
The champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, is currently taking a break as he observes Ramadan. Former champ Conor McGregor has legal issues and Tony Ferguson is sidelined with an injury.
So with Alvarez ranked No. 3 in the 155-pound division and Poirier sitting at No. 4, their July 28 fight is as big as it gets this summer in the UFC’s most talent-heavy division.
“This is the biggest lightweight fight of the year,” Alvarez said during a visit to Calgary Wednesday to promote the fight. “Whether or not it’s for a belt or not for a belt, this is the biggest lightweight fight.”
As important as their matchup may be to the UFC’s 155-pound weight class, it’s not the reason most fans will probably be tuning in. The implications for the division matter, to be sure, but it’s bad blood that sells fights and there’s plenty of that to go around in this matchup.
With tickets for the July 28 event going on sale for UFC Fight Club members Wednesday — they go on sale to newsletter subscribers Thursday and to the general public Friday — Alvarez and Poirier both made the rounds in Calgary throughout the day.
In addition to media duties, Poirier stopped by Calgary Stampeders training camp in the morning, while both fighters had a photo op on Scotsman’s Hill before heading to Foothills Medical Centre to meet the Humboldt Broncos’ Ryan Straschnitzki.
The bad blood between the two fighters was put to the side for the visit with Straschnitzki as both guys took the time to exchange contact information and hear the young man’s story. Some things are bigger than sporting rivalries.
At the photo op, though, it got tense.
“I don’t like the guy and I respect him as a fighter. He’s a dangerous fighter and he’s done amazing things in his career,” Poirier said. “He’s beat a lot of great guys, he’s made it to the mountaintop in a lot of organizations, including the UFC. It’s an honour to fight someone like him with what he’s done in his career.
“But as a person, f--- Eddie Alvarez.”
The root of their mutual dislike comes from the first time Alvarez and Poirier fought last year in Dallas at UFC 211. Poirier seriously hurt Alvarez in the second round and appeared to be on the verge of a finish before Alvarez rallied.
It was chaotic and the insanity ended when Alvarez kneed Poirier in the head. The strike was ruled unintentionally illegal and because Poirier was unable to continue, the fight was controversially ruled a no contest.
Both guys have very different interpretations of what happened.
“It was only going to get crazier,” Poirier said. “I was robbed of a classic fight on my record. I was robbed of a win over the former world champion. I was robbed of a fight of the night ($50,000 bonus), which we would have got.”
Alvarez, needless to say, disagrees with that assessment.
“I would have ruled it a conscious quit, that would have been my ruling,” he said. “But I’m not the judge, I’m not the jury. I saw a man consciously quit, I’ll stick to that.”
Both guys insist the reason they accepted the Calgary fight has more to do with earning a title shot than getting revenge.
That’s probably true, but while plenty of fights have been sold based on either bad blood or divisional significance, the headliner at the Saddledome marks one of the rare occasions where a title shot and pride are both on the line.
NOT FEELING IT
Between Poirier and Alvarez, it was Poirier who seemed more angry.
Alvarez said nobody should be surprised about that.
“I wish I could say that fighting evoked emotions for me, but it doesn’t anymore,” Alvarez said. “I have to do things to evoke emotions, I’m completely separate from emotions in this. When I step in the cage, I turn on a switch and become a different person, but outside of that I’m very happy.”
NOT WORRIED
The winner of the Calgary main event should get the next UFC lightweight title shot. That doesn’t mean they will, though.
If McGregor sorts out his legal woes and decides he wants to continue being a professional fighter, the UFC is probably going to give him the next shot at Nurmagomedov.
Georges St. Pierre has expressed interest in fighting for the 155-lb. belt as well and the UFC might decide they can’t say no to the massive payday a GSP-Nurmagomedov fight would generate.
Poirier and Alvarez, though, are choosing to believe they ’re fighting for the next title shot.
“I’m not worried about it, I’ve still got 25 minutes with a multiple-time world champion here in Calgary,” Poirier said.