Eddie Alvarez opens up on decision to sign with ONE Championship

Former UFC and Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez is now a ONE Championship fighter. Speaking on the ONE: Heart of the Lion conference call on Wednesday evening, Alvarez opened up on his decision to sign with the Singapore-based promotion.

“Without getting too much into it, we had offers from all around the world,” Eddie Alvarez said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “We got offers from just about everyone you can think of. Everyone expressed interest. The idea of ONE Championship, it’s the only major organization I haven’t held world title in. I won the Bellator title twice during my career, I won the UFC title during my career and as far as I’m concerned, ONE is the only major organization that I haven’t got to touch that world title belt.

“For myself, for my family, for my fans and everyone, this would mean that I would have a chance at making history,” he added. “Possibly history that could never be made again. It would take a fighter 20 years in the fight game to be able to fight for these major organizations, and it’s almost like a lottery ticket to be able to win one world title. So to be able to go to every major organization, fight their best guys in the world, to fight the best guys in that organization and then beat them all one-by-one and win that world title, means the world to me.

“If I was to retire, and there was an organization out there that was the best in the world and I wasn’t able [to fight there], and people would come to me and they would go, ‘Yeah, but he didn’t win the ONE world title’ – that would bug me. I’m going to save myself that bother and fly to Asia and take on the best lightweights there and win that world title.”

While money was clearly a motivator, it sounds like the allure of a ONE Championship title was a big reason for Eddie Alvarez’s move to ONE.

How do you think Eddie Alvarez will perform in the ONE lightweight division?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/19/2018.