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MMA

15th Dec 2017

Tony Ferguson takes huge offence to Eddie Alvarez’s self-appointed title

He took the bait!

Ben Kiely

Eddie Alvarez

While the UFC lightweight champions are sitting on the sideline, Eddie Alvarez has been fighting.

Following his latest win over Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez appointed himself the UFC’s most violent man. Very few people took issue with the claim, partly because the fight was an instant-classic, partly because it’s probably true.

During a recent appearance on ‘the MMA Hour,’ the ‘Underground King’ had some choice words about the legitimacy of the two titles in the division. The reason why he invented himself a title was because he saw no real value in the other belts.

“For right now, shit just isn’t defined with the title and there’s just not a lot of value in it. What value is in it? There’s an interim guy who beat the number seven guy to become the champion. That’s not a champion. You can’t bring a number seven ranked guy in and then put him against the number one contender and he beats him and they say, ‘Now you’re the champion.’ That’s silly.”

Lightweight belt-holder Conor McGregor has ignored the comment so far, but the same can’t be said of the interim king.

Tony Ferguson has fired back at the comments on Friday, pointing to his divisional record of 10-straight wins as proof that he is worthy of his strap.

Alvarez claims that he is set to sit down with Dana White to discuss a potential megafight opportunity. Alas, Ferguson doesn’t appear to be the opponent he has in mind, judging his response.

We wouldn’t say no to Ferguson vs Alvarez should McGregor opt to turn down a unification bout and relinquish his title. However, Ferguson is just after undergoing elbow surgery which will keep him out for a while.

Also, the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Edson Barboza may feel hard done by if Alvarez gets the crack at the belt ahead of them. Dustin Poirier would also feel ticked off. He has unfinished business after their bout ended in a ‘No Contest’ because of illegal knees.