On July 7th, Eddie Alvarez will step into the Octagon for just the fourth time - it will be a lightweight title fight against Rafael dos Anjos.
That fight will not be on pay-per-view, nor is it on Fox. Instead, it will be broadcast on UFC Fight Pass, something which says plenty about both fighter's inability to move the needle in terms of viewership numbers.
Alvarez is 2-1 in the UFC. Prior to that, he was with Bellator where he was the lightweight title holder. During that time, Alvarez was twice involved in five-round fights. The 32-year-old, who is half Puerto Rican and half Irish, believes that a five-round bout is something which is beyond Conor McGregor.
Should Alvarez defeat Dos Anjos, it's not out of the question that he could face McGregor at some point in the future.
Alvarez told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour:
To be honest, Conor's a one or two round fighter. He's not a championship fighter. He's a one or two round guy. He'll be a lifer, I think, in three rounders. If he ever decides to do five rounders or go past the five, I think most of his fights are going to look just like that [Nate Diaz fight], he's going to take a dump.
Alvarez seems to believe McGregor is somewhat of a flat-track bully. When things are going well for him, he looks great. A little bit of adversity and it starts to unravel.
Conor couldn't even win for two rounds. If he has to deal with any amount of adversity, how's he going to end up winning.
He was beating the shit out of Nate. If you can't win for two rounds, how are you going to be in a fight with Nate Diaz? He was winning, he was beating the shit out of him and he couldn't keep up with his own winning. That was odd to me.
This is not the first time Alvarez has spoken about McGregor. Back in February, ahead of the Irishman's eventually cancelled title fight with Rafael dos Anjos, he outlined what he believes is the way to defeat the featherweight champion.
