Edward "Eddie" Alvarez was born on January 11,1984 and is an American professional mixed martial artist and bare-knuckle boxer who most recently competed in the Welterweight division of BKFC.
64 Facts About Eddie Alvarez
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Eddie Alvarez formerly competed in the UFC and Bellator MMA, and One FC winning world titles in each of the first two: the UFC Lightweight Championship once and the Bellator Lightweight World Championship twice.
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Eddie Alvarez has competed for the Japanese DREAM promotion, where he fought in their inaugural Lightweight Grand Prix.
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Eddie Alvarez holds notable wins over former world champions Pat Curran, Michael Chandler, Shinya Aoki, Gilbert Melendez, Justin Gaethje, Anthony Pettis, Eduard Folayang and Rafael dos Anjos.
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Edward, the son of Louis and Lillian Eddie Alvarez, grew up in Kensington, Philadelphia and is of Puerto Rican and Irish descent.
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Eddie Alvarez started boxing at Front Street Gym at the age of eight under his father and Frank Kubach.
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At the age of 11, Eddie Alvarez started wrestling in a youth wrestling program.
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Eddie Alvarez went to Northeast Catholic High School, excelling and becoming a varsity letterman in football, wrestling and track.
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Eddie Alvarez has a younger brother, Albert, who is a former mixed martial artist.
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Eddie Alvarez paid $250 for a slot in Ring of Combat 5 to start his professional mixed martial arts career in 2003.
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Eddie Alvarez won the MFC Welterweight Championship in his seventh professional fight in June 2006, when he defeated Derrick Noble via KO at 1:01 of the first round.
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Eddie Alvarez competed in their 160-pound division against Ross Ebanez, winning by TKO.
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Eddie Alvarez's first fight was against Andre Amade, who hailed from the Chute Boxe Academy.
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Eddie Alvarez won via TKO due to strikes late in the first round.
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Eddie Alvarez's replacement was Joachim Hansen, whom he defeated two months earlier.
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Eddie Alvarez was scheduled to face UFC and PRIDE veteran Nick Diaz for the EliteXC 160 pound title on November 8,2008.
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Eddie Alvarez was signed to an exclusive contract with Bellator Fighting Championships.
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Eddie Alvarez entered Bellator's lightweight tournament at Bellator's inaugural event on April 3,2009.
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Eddie Alvarez fought Northern Irishman Greg Loughran, whom he submitted with a guillotine choke.
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Eddie Alvarez's next fight at the tournament's semi-finals took place four weeks later at Bellator 5, against Eric Reynolds.
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Eddie Alvarez fought and defeated Toby Imada, via a rear naked choke submission early in the second round, to become Bellator's first ever lightweight champion.
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Eddie Alvarez faced Josh Neer in a non-title "Super fight" on May 6,2010, at Bellator 17, in which he defeated Neer via rear-naked choke at 2:08 of round 2.
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Eddie Alvarez was supposed to fight the Season 2 Lightweight Tournament Winner Pat Curran in a defense of his title, but his opponent was pulled from the card due to an injury in his right shoulder.
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Eddie Alvarez instead faced Roger Huerta at Bellator 33 held in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Eddie Alvarez won the fight via TKO between the 2nd and 3rd rounds.
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Eddie Alvarez defeated Pat Curran on April 2,2011, via unanimous decision to retain the Bellator Lightweight Championship at Bellator 39.
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Eddie Alvarez faced Michael Chandler on November 19,2011, at Bellator 58 in what was called by many publications as the '2011 Fight of the Year'.
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Eddie Alvarez was defeated by Chandler by rear naked choke in the fourth round.
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Eddie Alvarez faced Shinya Aoki in a rematch at Bellator 66.
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Eddie Alvarez won the fight via TKO in the first round.
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Eddie Alvarez faced Patricky Freire at Bellator 76, and defeated Freire in the first round via KO.
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Eddie Alvarez agreed in principle to signing with the UFC, reportedly including a share of pay-per-view revenue in addition to show and win money.
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Bellator invoked a clause in the original contract to match the UFC's offer and re-sign Eddie Alvarez, matching the show and win purse and alleging that the pay-per-view cut in the UFC's offer to be strictly hypothetical.
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Eddie Alvarez faced Michael Chandler on November 2,2013, at Bellator 106.
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Eddie Alvarez won via split decision in a close fight to become the Bellator Lightweight Champion for the second time.
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However, a week before the fight, it was announced that Eddie Alvarez had suffered a concussion and was forced to pull out of the fight.
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Eddie Alvarez made his promotional debut against fan favorite and top contender Donald Cerrone in the co-main event at UFC 178 on September 27,2014.
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Eddie Alvarez was expected to face Benson Henderson on January 18,2015, at UFC Fight Night 59.
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However, Eddie Alvarez pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Donald Cerrone.
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Eddie Alvarez faced Gilbert Melendez on June 13,2015, at UFC 188.
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Eddie Alvarez faced Anthony Pettis on January 17,2016, at UFC Fight Night 81.
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Eddie Alvarez then swarmed dos Anjos and landed a barrage of unanswered punches before the fight was stopped via TKO.
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Eddie Alvarez made his first title defense against the then UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor on November 12,2016, at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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Eddie Alvarez lost the fight via TKO in the second round, after being outstruck in the first round.
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In July 2017, it was announced that Eddie Alvarez would be a coach on The Ultimate Fighter 26 against former WSOF Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje.
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Eddie Alvarez won the fight via knockout in the third round.
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Eddie Alvarez lost the fight via TKO in the second round.
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On October 15,2018, it was announced that Eddie Alvarez signed with ONE Championship, set to make his promotional debut some time in early 2019 as part of their Lightweight division.
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On November 7,2018, it was announced that Eddie Alvarez would be one of eight participants in the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix.
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On December 19,2018, it was announced that Eddie Alvarez faced Timofey Nastyukhin at ONE Championship: A New Era on March 31,2019 in promotion's inaugural event in Japan.
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Eddie Alvarez lost the fight by TKO in the first round.
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Eddie Alvarez returned at ONE Championship: Dawn of Heroes on August 2,2019 against former ONE lightweight champion Eduard Folayang.
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Eddie Alvarez won the fight via first round rear-naked choke after being dropped by a leg kick early in the round.
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Eddie Alvarez was expected to face Saygid Arslaniev in the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix final, but on September 26,2019, news surfaced that he had to withdraw from the bout due to an injury.
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Eddie Alvarez was replaced by ONE Lightweight Champion Christian Lee.
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Eddie Alvarez faced former ONE lightweight title challenger Iuri Lapicus at ONE on TNT 1 on April 7,2021.
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Eddie Alvarez was disqualified after repeatedly throwing punches to the back of Lapicus's head.
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Eddie Alvarez appealed the final decision and the result was later overturned to a no contest.
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Three weeks after his last bout, Eddie Alvarez faced Ok Rae Yoon at ONE on TNT 4 on April 28,2021.
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On September 21,2022, it was announced that Eddie Alvarez had agreed to be released from his contract with ONE Championship.
61.
On March 1,2023, it was announced by BKFC president Dave Feldman that Eddie Alvarez had signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
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Eddie Alvarez made his debut against Chad Mendes at BKFC 41 on April 29,2023 and won by split decision.
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Eddie Alvarez married his high school sweetheart, Jamie, in 2008, and they have three sons and a daughter.
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Eddie Alvarez made two appearances on the television show Bully Beatdown on MTV, where he knocked out both of his opponents.