Tag: Eddie Alvarez

Video: BKFC KnuckleMania 5 press conference live stream

The introductory BKFC KnuckleMania 5 press conference with Eddie Alvarez and Jeremy Stephens takes place Tuesday. Watch the live stream here.

The introductory BKFC KnuckleMania 5 press conference takes place Tuesday, and you can watch a live stream of the festivities at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) right here on MMA Junkie.

The press conference takes place in Philadelphia, which will also host BKFC KnuckleMania 5, and features Philly’s own [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] and [autotag]Jeremy Stephens[/autotag], who will clash Jan. 25 at Wells Fargo Center. But before that happens, the former UFC stars will come face to face at the press conference.

You can watch the full BKFC KnuckleMania 5 press conference in the video above.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=420038933]

Eddie Alvarez books hometown BKFC KnuckleMania 5 fight vs. Jeremy Stephens

Eddie Alvarez returning to the BKFC ring against fellow UFC veteran Jeremy Stephens in Philadelphia this winter.

[autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] is returning to fight in front of his hometown crowd.

The former UFC and Bellator champion has booked his return to the ring to take on fellow veteran [autotag]Jeremy Stephens[/autotag] at BKFC KnuckleMania 5 on Jan. 25 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The news was announced by the promotion Tuesday.

Alvarez was last seen in action in December 2023 when he lost to Mike Perry by second-round TKO in the main event of BKFC 56. It was his second bareknuckle boxing match. Alvarez had fought and defeated Chad Mendes in April earlier that year.

Stephens recently competed in the BKFC ring. He defeated Bobby Taylor by unanimous decision at BKFC 65 in September. Prior to that, Stephens had stopped former UFC contender Jimmie Rivera in December 2023, a result that marked Stephens’ bareknuckle boxing debut.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DCj4H5dRLh0/

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=420038933]

Eddie Alvarez claims Ilia Topuria once knocked out three Kill Cliff FC fighters in training

Eddie Alvarez gave insight on just how much power UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria packs.

[autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] gave insight on just how much power UFC featherweight champion [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] packs.

Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) retained his featherweight title by becoming the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in the UFC 308 main event. He has now knocked out former champions Alexander Volkanovski and Holloway back-to-back.

Alvarez recounted hearing that Topuria took out numerous fighters when training at Kill Cliff FC in Florida. The former UFC lightweight champion also said Topuria managed to show off his grappling.

“I heard through my Kill Cliff buddies that he went over there and knocked out three guys in training in a training camp,” Alvarez said in an interview with Tim Welch. “And the Dagestanis couldn’t take him down, and he was taking them down. I overhear things in training, and I’m more concerned with the training than I am the fight, because in the fight you only get a little bit of time to display what you’ve got.

“But in training when you’re relaxed and doing these things consistently, to hear he went down to Kill Cliff and knocked out three of his training partners and was willingly taking down the Dagestani guys – what holes are we dealing with? He just dealt with the volume and the endurance of Max Holloway. If I’m hearing he’s really difficult to take down, his jiu-jitsu – he started his career just subbing guys, so this guy is a weapon all over.”

Topuria’s career started off with eight-straight submission wins, before he knocked out his first opponent in November 2019. He has now knocked out five of his past eight opponents.

[lawrence-related id=2782628,2782569,2782559,2781364]

Chad Mendes would only return to BKFC for a rematch with Eddie Alvarez

Chad Mendes is done with BKFC – unless he’s offered another shot at Eddie Alvarez.

ABU DHABI – [autotag]Chad Mendes[/autotag] is done with BKFC – unless he’s offered another shot at [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag].

Mendes hung up his gloves after losing a split decision to Alvarez at BKFC 41 in April 2023. It was a back-and-forth barnburner that Mendes thought he won.

The multiple-time UFC title challenger has little interest in returning to the bareknuckle boxing ring, but would do it if he got the opportunity to avenge his loss to Alvarez.

“Honestly, I think the only thing that really intrigues me at this point with bareknuckle is a rematch with Eddie, mainly because I thought I won that fight,” Mendes told MMA Junkie. “Worst case, (it was) a draw. But I’ve talked to Eddie about it a little bit. He kind of seemed like he was into it a little bit.

“What I’ve heard, though, from the grapevine, is his coaches don’t want to do it. So I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not, but that’s really the only thing that interests me in that world anymore. If that’s not going to happen, I probably won’t do any more, no.”

Mendes competed in a grappling match this past Friday at ADXC 5 in Abu Dhabi. He defeated fellow ex-UFC fighter Diego Brandao, and sees himself competing in more grappling matches to remain active.

“I like these grappling events,” Mendes said. “I like being able to continue staying in shape, doing grappling, strength and conditioning, stuff like that, which is something I’ve done since I was a young kid, and I love to do more than getting punched in the face, honestly. So I will definitely continue to do these, I think, moving forward until my body is like, ‘That’s enough.'”

[lawrence-related id=2699563,2639122,2639091,2638488]

Eddie Alvarez confident Arman Tsarukyan beats UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev

Eddie Alvarez thinks Arman Tsarukyan is the one to dethrone UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

[autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag] is the one to dethrone UFC lightweight champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag].

Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) retained his title with a fifth-round submission of Dustin Poirier in this past Saturday’s UFC 302 headliner at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

When comparing Makhachev to his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Alvarez says Makhachev’s risk taking is what makes him more beatable than Nurmagomedov.

“Islam is not Khabib, he doesn’t fight like Khabib,” Alvarez said on The MMA Hour. “He takes more chances, he takes more risks and relies on finishing guys, where Khabib just knew you weren’t going to be able to deal with him over time and he’d take you from 100 percent energy to 0 energy, and then he would finish you.

“Islam’s going to go for it, he’s going to leave himself more vulnerable so he’s a little bit funner to watch, but he’s more susceptible to getting beat than Khabib was.”

Makhachev said he’s more interested in challenging for the welterweight title than rematching Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC), whom he beat in April 2019. That was just Tsarukyan’s UFC debut, and the 27-year-old has since gone 9-1.

Alvarez thinks Makhachev and his team are avoiding Tsarukyan. The former UFC lightweight champion also sees Tsarukyan being able to resist Makhachev’s wrestling, and even picked him to win – especially after seeing Poirier fend off numerous of Makhachev’s takedown attempts.

“Arman beats him,” Alvarez said. “I made that assumption right after the (Poirier) fight. Everybody Khabib defended against, he had what I call the state-grappling advantage. The gap in the grappling advantage was so high, and he dominated these guys. … If you’re able to match their wrestling a little bit where they can’t dominate you and you can put them in a fight, you start to see they’re a little bit human.”

“Arman, because of his wrestling background, he’s going to be able to stop the shot. He may even take Islam down a little bit. Islam won’t be the hammer the entire fight, and we need to see how he deals with that because they’re always the hammer.”

[lawrence-related id=2745277,2743799,2734148,2731796]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 302.

New BKFC champion Austin Trout eyes Eddie Alvarez, Mike Perry for Knuckle Mania 4

Knuckle Mania 4 is coming up in April and could be BKFC’s most stacked card ever. Austin Trout wants Eddie Alvarez or Mike Perry for it.

[autotag]Austin Trout[/autotag] turns his attention to money fights now that he’s accomplished an unusual and impressive feat.

A former WBA champion, Trout notched his second world title in a different combat sport Feb. 2 when he defeated Luis Palomino at BKFC 57 to become the promotion’s welterweight champion.

“This belt means a lot,” Trout recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “Being a world champion is nothing to shy at. It’s nothing to turn your nose up at. It’s definitely a major feat. To be a two-sport champion? That’s pretty legacy stuff right there. It means a lot, you know? I’m on a really short list of people who have done that.”

Boxing’s storied history and championship lineage means Trout’s previous boxing world title reign means more than the one he notched weeks ago.

But there’s a certain savagery and bravery that comes with bareknuckle fighting, and for that reason, Trout indicated his BKFC title isn’t far behind in the power rankings.

“There’s a lot of history so that boxing title definitely weighs a lot more, but don’t get it twisted,” Trout said. “Muhammad Ali holds the same belt that I had. But at the same time, BKFC has some real killers in there, not to mention that it takes a certain special kind of person to want to fight. It takes an even more crazy, demented, special type of person to want to bareknuckle fight. I ask my peers, ‘Are you down?’ The majority of them were like, ‘Nah, I’m good. I’m not with that.’ So to be the champion of a combat sport that a real select few combatants would do, I’m bad mother-shut-your-mouth.”

[lawrence-related id=2714040,2713738]

Even though he went five full rounds with Palomino, a beastly combatant who is held in regard by many as the best bareknuckle fighter to date, Trout walked away relatively unscathed.

With Knuckle Mania 4 recently announced for April 27 in Los Angeles, Trout wants a big name on what could be the promotion’s most high-profile card of all time.

“Nothing has been shot my way yet, but I’ll be there,” Trout said. “I’m just going to throw a name out there. [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] is a good fight for LA. Tony Soto would be a good fight for LA. Tony Soto, they say he’s the No. 1 at 165. Those are two different decent names to put under my belt.

“…To be honest, the [autotag]Mike Perry[/autotag] fight does intrigue me. It does. It does intrigue me. … The way I’m feeling right now, it seems like a tough one on paper but I feel like I’ll make that fight look easy too.”

No fights have been announced for Knuckle Mania 4 at this time, though the event serves as the promotion’s first in California and is a trial run for widespread bareknuckle boxing sanctioning in the state.

Neither Perry nor Alvarez are booked at this time.

Eddie Alvarez says he suffered two orbital fractures in wild fight with Mike Perry at BKFC 56

Eddie Alvarez was right when he said shortly after his bareknuckle fight with Mike Perry that his orbital was “smashed up.”

[autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] said shortly after his bareknuckle fight with Mike Perry that he believed his orbital was “smashed up” – and he was right.

Alvarez, a former UFC and Bellator champion, lost to Perry this past Saturday at BKFC 56 after his cornermen decided to stop the fight. They did so after the second round once Alvarez told them he was struggling with his vision.

On Monday, Alvarez shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) in which he confirmed suffering two fractures in his left orbital.

Confirmed 2 fractures in my left orbital , one was e refracture … Woulda been a thing of beauty to close out to the show for the fans , I felt great … this game is Wild and unpredictable as can be … it’s why I love it 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼🔪🔪 The Show goes on ! Love you guys ❤️

Perry and Alvarez went at it for only four minutes, but it was a hard-fought four minutes, with both men throwing everything they had at each other. Unfortunately for Alvarez, Perry walked through a lot of his punches and was relentless with his attack to claim the promotion’s inaugural “King of Violence” belt.

Now 1-1 in two BKFC appearances this year, Alvarez isn’t sure what comes next but said he plans to continue doing bareknuckle. He asked Perry for a rematch in his hometown of Philadelphia next year.

[lawrence-related id=2701254,2701173,2701174]

Eddie Alvarez after BKFC 56: I ‘dared to be great’ against ‘f*cking battle axe’ Mike Perry but came up short

Sporting a busted left eye after spending four minutes in the ring with Mike Perry, Eddie Alvarez came to a realization at BKFC 56.

Sporting a busted left eye after spending four minutes in the ring with Mike Perry, [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] came to a realization about bareknuckle boxing as a sport.

“This is not for the athletes,” Alvarez said during the BKFC 56 post-event news conference. “You can get away with being an athlete in MMA. You can get away with being an athlete in boxing. You need to be a fighter to be in bareknuckle.”

It’s understandable why Alvarez, a former UFC and Bellator champion, would reach that conclusion. He threw everything he had at Perry in their BKFC 56 headliner on Saturday night, but it wasn’t enough as Perry ate Alvarez’s best shots and, in turn, delivered plenty of his own.

The result? Alvarez’s corner stopped the fight because he was losing his vision out of his injured eye, giving Perry a second-round TKO win to claim the “King of Violence” title.

Alvarez isn’t exactly sure which punch did the damage that sealed his fate. He just knows he couldn’t continue without being able to see completely.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure when he landed the shot that he landed, but I remember maybe midway through the second, I felt my eye shutting and closing up on me,” Alvarez said. “Then when I sat down, I went to open my mouth a little bit, and I think my orbital is smashed up. I can’t see. With a guy like Mike, I think I was doing well when I was moving, but then I started getting into a firefight with him, and that’s not something you do with Mike Perry. It was foolish.”

That said, Alvarez wasn’t entirely disappointed with his performance.

“Tonight I dared to be great,” Alvarez said. “I went up a weight class with Mike. I did, I really dared to be great. And I thought, with everything in me, I could beat a bigger guy given my skill set, given his style. I’m not going back on anything. I thought I could beat Mike Perry tonight, bigger or not. And I didn’t. I came up short. …

“With a bare fist, I thought for sure Mike would go down. He didn’t. My hat’s off to Mike Perry. The guy’s a f*cking battle axe. He can take a shot. He can keep plodding forward and give them. He reminds me of myself a lot. I was fighting a little mirror of myself in there tonight, and Mike was the better man.”

Now 1-1 in two BKFC appearances this year, Alvarez isn’t sure what comes next but said he plans on continuing with BKFC.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=420038933]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for BKFC 56.

BKFC 56 results: Mike Perry crowned ‘King of Violence’ after Eddie Alvarez corner stoppage, calls out Conor McGregor

Former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez might be “The Underground King,” but he’s no “King of Violence.” That title belongs to Mike Perry.

Former UFC champion [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] might be “The Underground King,” but he’s no “King of Violence.” That title belongs to [autotag]Mike Perry[/autotag].

Perry proved his mettle in Saturday night’s BKFC 56 headliner as he took Alvarez’s punches like they were no big deal while delivering shot after shot to Alvarez, whose corner stopped the fight after the second round.

It was a fast-paced, brutal four minutes of action between Perry and Alvarez. After Round 2 ended, Alvarez had a heart-to-heart conversation with his cornermen and appeared to say he couldn’t see out of his swollen left eye. Without the doctor examining him, Alvarez’s corner decided that was enough.

Alvarez might’ve been discouraged by how the fight unfolded. He hit Perry with everything he had, which didn’t seem to faze the new “King of Violence.” Perry said in the buildup to BKFC 56 that he would march forward and put it on Alvarez, which is exactly what he did.

“I work on the head movement and sh*t, but the last fight went so easily, I just wanted to have a battle, so I let him get some shots off,” Perry said. … “Who owns combat sports now? The ‘King of Violence’ Platinum Mike Perry!”

Perry is now 4-0 in BKFC after wins over Julian Lane, Michael Page, Luke Rockhold, and now Alvarez. Since leaving the UFC in 2021, Perry has emerged as the face of BKFC.

Afterward, he called out the biggest name in the UFC to meet him inside the circle.

“Conor McGregor would be a great matchup,” Perry said. “I just beat somebody he fought for a world title. Who’s bigger than that, though? There’s nobody bigger than Conor McGregor except me?”

Perry and McGregor held a faceoff back in April after he finished Rockhold. BKFC president David Feldman has said it would be a “dream” if McGregor had a BKFC fight.

Who better for him to meet than the new “King of Violence”?

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0YVD5JMRYY/?img_index=1

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for BKFC 56.

Social media reacts to Mike Perry’s corner stoppage win over Eddie Alvarez at BKFC 56

The combat sports community reacted to Mike Perry’s win over Eddie Alvarez at BKFC 56 to claim the “King of Violence” title.

[autotag]Mike Perry[/autotag] now has a belt to call himself the “King of Violence” after defeating former UFC champion [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] in Saturday’s BKFC 56 main event.

After a strong build up to their bare knuckle boxing clash, Perry once again showed this world of combat is best suited for him. He busted up Alvarez’s eye to the point of a corner stoppage TKO to close the 175-pound contest, which took place at Maverik Center in Salt Lake City, and left with the “King of Violence” championship.

The fight community praised Perry for his efforts, and you can see the top social media reactions to his win over Alvarez below.

* * * *