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MMA

17th Feb 2017

Eddie Alvarez may have sealed his return fight from devastating loss to Conor McGregor

Bouncing back

Ben Kiely

With UFC 205 behind him, Eddie Alvarez has garnered the attention of one of the lightweight division’s most underrated contenders.

If Conor McGregor brought the dawg out in Eddie Alvarez, it was reduced to a lost little puppy in the main event of UFC’s New York debut.

The wrestling went out the window and against his better judgement, the Underground King decided to engage in a brawl with the Notorious. As soon as that first haymaker cracked him, he never looked like coming close to being in the fight.

There were zero signs of that master plan to derail McGregor’s hype train that Mark Henry had been developing with Frankie Edgar in mind. The multi-promotion world champion added another former championship to his impressive resume once McGregor landed that devastating combination in the second round.

https://twitter.com/TheJivemaster/status/796646899587710976

We haven’t seen either McGregor or Alvarez fight since that faithful night in the Big Apple, although we’ve heard a lot from the first dual champion in UFC history.

The Notorious has been linked to fights with the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson, the returning Georges St-Pierre and the one that’s been grabbing all the headlines, that circus sideshow mega-fight against retired middle-aged boxer Floyd Mayweather.

From Eddie Alvarez, on the other hand, we’ve had nothing but radio silence. Apart from Nate Diaz turning down an offer to fight him, we have heard nothing about his return plans. However, top UFC lightweight Michael Chiesa dropped a huge hint on his Snapchat story that he could be the one to welcome Alvarez back to the Octagon.

The number eight-ranked 155 lber is one of the most feared submission artists in the division, with 10 of his 14 professional wins coming via this method. He is riding a three-fight win-streak and would be looking to thrust himself right into the title picture with a win over the former champion.

There has been no confirmation of this fight being booked yet, but the fact that Chiesa let the world know he is watching tape of Alvarez in action is interesting. There is also the slim chance that he is actually focusing his attention on Anthony Pettis, whom Alvarez defeated in the fight pictured below.