"I told everyone that I wanted to dominate Huerta. I felt like just a win over him was not going to solidify my ranking or prove anything to anyone. I had to dominate him and beat him in a fashion that nobody else beat him in and I just felt like I delivered. I set out to do a certain thing that night and I delivered on it. I couldn't be happier with my performance...I give Roger all of the respect in the world, but I don't think he was the best fighter that I've ever fought. I've fought better fighters. But it just seems like in the MMA community, Roger was the best guy I fought and I'm okay with that," stated Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez as he talked about his impressive and dominant win over Roger Huerta at Bellator 33. Check out what else he had to say about Huerta, his future plans, including a possible showdown with Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, and much more.
PC: How is everything going Eddie?
EA: I can't complain man. I'm enjoying my down time with the wife and kids. I'm just chillin' out man. Me and my wife enjoyed Halloween. We went to a little party and then we took the kids out. Everything is fantastic man; everything is going well.
PC: Congratulations on the big win over Roger Huerta. It appeared to be a flawless performance. How do you feel about your performance?
EA: I couldn't have been happier. It's like they say, train hard and fight easy. It was definitely a hard camp and a big learning experience during the camp. I felt like I learned a lot and improved my fight IQ a lot during the camp. I trained really hard and I was overly prepared for what I was about to get into and it showed that night.
PC: Huerta proved to be a tough opponent, even with an extensive layoff before his fight against Gray Maynard. What type of fight did you expect from him?
EA: Honestly, I thought he had a lot of holes technically. I really wasn't prepared for it to be an easy fight. I thought it was going to be a little bit more of a barnburner, back-and-forth, see saw battle. I was prepared for the worst and the best came of it.
PC: You started with the leg kicks right from the beginning of the fight. Did you see he was vulnerable to that while preparing for that fight or was it something you saw you can capitalize on when the fight started?
EA: Going into the fight, I didn't want to game plan too much because he's the type of dude that you can get into a brawl with and your game plan goes out of the window. I just wanted to take what he gave me. But going into the fight, I was told by my corner, "as soon as he switches to southpaw or if he comes out southpaw, crush them legs." And that's what we did. As soon as he came out southpaw, we made him pay for switching stances. We made it a point to go after that leg. There were three things we stressed when preparing for the fight with him and all three of them worked.
PC: We have never seen Roger in a lot of trouble and to see him not get off of the stool was shocking to me. What was that feeling like for you when you realized he wasn't going to come out for the 3rd and final round?
EA: It was...I felt like...you know, I told everyone that I wanted to dominate Huerta. I felt like just a win over him was not going to solidify my ranking or prove anything to anyone. I had to dominate him and beat him in a fashion that nobody else beat him in and I just felt like I delivered. I set out to do a certain thing that night and I delivered on it. I couldn't be happier with my performance.
PC: The straight right hand is a punch that you can typically land on southpaws, but you were able to land it even when he switched over to orthodox. Was it just a matter of timing him perfectly with it? Why did you have so much success with that punch?
EA: Yeah, I actually had Bernard Hopkins corner me. I was lucky enough to have Bernard Hopkins corner me and show me a few things in camp. Bernard told me and showed me a couple of things. My trainer Moe helped me out as well and with the two of them putting their heads together, it's magical what you can do. That dart right hand is something that me and my boxing trainer Moe had been going over for awhile and it's actually something that Bernard uses as well.
PC: When Huerta gets into exchanges, he seems to lower his head a lot. It appeared you did your homework for this fight because not only was the straight right hand finding a home, but your uppercut was on point in all exchanges as well.
EA: That was something that...I told my trainers to meet me at the gym at 2:00, which was about 5 to 6 hours away from fight time. Me and all of my trainers met at the gym and we went over his fights one more time, about 3 or 4 fights of his, and everyone concluded that if I don't throw the uppercut, that I would be stupid. We had to bring the uppercut back and all three of my trainers seen that every time you throw one or two punches, that head would come down and that uppercut would be right there. It was there too. It's just very rare that you watch a fighter, you see some tendencies, you pick up on them and you go out there and expose them. It never goes the way you think it's going to, but that fight, everything worked man. The uppercuts worked, the dart right hand worked, and the leg kicks worked. These were the three things that I was told over and over and I just went out there and executed it.
PC: You didn't use your wrestling very much. Like you said, a lot of people get drawn into slugfests with him. Going into the fight, did you feel you would have to use your wrestling more?
EA: I wasn't worried about standing and banging it out with him. I wasn't too worried either way. I felt comfortable everywhere. I didn't prepare for one special art specifically for this fight. I was more prepared to transition from one to the other. Transitioning was the main focus and that's going to continue to be the main focus; just being able to go from one thing to another. I'm not focusing on just being good at one thing.
PC: He clipped you with a short punch at the end of the 1st round. Was that just a flash knockdown or were you stunned?
EA: It was definitely a flash. They don't even bug me anymore. I kind of prepare for them when I go in there and, if anything, I feel like it sucks the will out of my opponents. I get hit and I get hit really hard and really clean, but never do I stay down. I may go down for a second, but I pop right back up. It's demoralizing for my opponents because they catch me real hard and then I'm able to pop back up and just keep coming.
PC: It had to be demoralizing for Roger because I think that's the only thing that saved him from a 10-8 round.
EA: Yeah! It was. It keeps the fans excited (laughing). If it's me getting halfway knocked out to keep the fans excited and watching the fight, then it's not such a bad thing.
PC: It didn't take long for the fans to start chanting your name. What was it like for you to not only dominate a named opponent like Roger Huerta in the manner that you did, but to do it in front of your home crowd?
EA: The thing is, with Huerta, he has such a big name. Even my friends were like, "Ah man, you're fighting Roger Huerta." I give Roger all of the respect in the world, but I don't think he was the best fighter that I've ever fought. I've fought better fighters. But it just seems like in the MMA community, Roger was the best guy I fought and I'm okay with that. I just went with it. But just to fight a big name like that on a major network and in front of my hometown crowd, it was good either way. I didn't care if I won or loss. I mean, I care if I won or loss, of course, but the opportunity that was given by the promotion to fight in my hometown against a big name like that on a major network, I wasn't going to let that pass me by man. I was real excited for that fight and I took full advantage of it.
PC: It took you to fight an ex-UFC guy for people to really take notice, but now they have and they want to see you fight Gilbert Melendez. Gil said he feels like the fight is getting close to being done. Do you feel the same way?
EA: I don't believe it's a reality. I wanted to believe it was a reality for awhile, but I mean, I don't know. I wanted to keep up with the antics, but it's kind of getting exhausting for me (laughing). I could keep it going for a month at the most before I get exhausted and then it's like, I just want a piece of paper in front of me to sign saying where the fight is going to be. I can only keep up with this bullshit for, you know...I don't have enough patience. I just want a piece of paper in front of me to sign saying I'm fighting Gilbert. I'm not really into all of that talking trash and all that. But we're getting desperate now, so I was thinking about maybe flying to California or some shit and try to do something stupid. I don't think this fight is going to happen unless I do something completely out of my character.
PC: You may have to pull an Antonio Tarver and show up at a press conference like he did to Roy Jones.
EA: (Laughing) Yeah, something like that. I tried calling his radio station the other day. I know Gilbert has his own radio station and I tried calling it a couple of days ago. That's completely out of my character. I don't do shit like that. I'm getting desperate here (laughing). I'm trying to get this fight.
PC: Well it's like you said, you can't expend too much energy on that because Pat Curran is going to happen early 2011 for you.
EA: Yeah, I'm definitely not sleeping on Pat. He's young and hungry and Pat has a lot of weapons that could be threatening to someone like me. I focus on one thing at a time. I don't know who I'm fighting next. I'm assuming it's going to be Pat because this whole Gilbert thing ain't working out like I thought it was going to. He is the guy I will keep my eye on, but I will also keep my fingers crossed and see what they are able to do. But right now, shit, it's only been a couple of weeks since my last fight, so I'm really just enjoying having the meals I want to eat, going out with the kids, and I'll wait on the promoters when they're ready. But I got another week or so to relax before I start getting in the mode of getting prepared for whoever is next.
PC: After the win over Huerta, you immediately went out of the cage to hug your wife. What has she meant to you and your career?
EA: They say no man is an island, so if I had one person that backed me up and is always there, it's my wife. I only have two things that I really do, if anybody follows me throughout the day, and that's train and chill out with my wife and kids. I don't have much of a social life or much of anything else. That's really all there is to me is fighting and doing stuff with my family. We just do it together, that's it. We both make sacrifices. I make a ton of sacrifices to be able to go fight these guys and beat them, and my wife does the same thing. She deals with my shit. She holds down the family and takes care of everything, so there is some teamwork that goes into it and a lot of sacrifices so when we get that win and get that W for the night, it's like we did it. We both put up with a lot of shit and both sacrificed a lot and we can let our hair down a little bit and enjoy ourselves.
PC: I understand that you train with Frankie Edgar. He is of course the UFC lightweight champion. Is that a situation where you would never fight him and what did he mean to this camp for you?
EA: Frankie was at the fight with Almeida. I go down to Almeida's once a week, sometimes twice a week. We get together a couple of times a week and trade secrets and really help each other big time. We compete with each other at a real high level and keep each other sharp. I think that's important. I want to be the #1 guy outside of the UFC and Frankie is on top of the world right now. He's the #1 lightweight in the world and we have the perfect relationship. Right now, there is no conflict of interest. He's with the UFC and I'm not signed to the UFC and I have other goals right now that I want to achieve. We're going to continue to help each other to get better. As far as fighting each other, I'm not into that stuff. Frankie knows everything about me and I know everything about him. I'm not interested in fighting Frankie. There is a ton of other lightweights out there to fight.
PC: I'm glad we finally caught up with one another. Enjoy your time with your kids and away from the cage. Again, that was a hell of a performance against Huerta. Is there anything you want to say to your fans in closing?
EA: I want to thank those guys for everything and I'm trying to be as busy as I can, man, and get these fights to get with some of the best guys out there. It's just been a lot harder than what I thought it would be (laughing). Look out for me coming up soon on Bully Beatdown; I will be on that. I want to thank everybody for everything.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]