Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez promises to break the hearts of Filipino fans when he takes on the face of Philippine martial arts this coming Friday, 2 August.
The 35-year-old from Philadelphia, USA will battle Eduard “Landslide” Folayang in the semi-finals of the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix at ONE: DAWN OF HEROES at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.
This will be Alvarez’s second appearance in The Home of Martial Arts since joining the world’s largest martial arts promotion back in October of last year.
In his debut, the American star received a brash welcome from Timofey Nastyukhin of Russia in their quarter-final bout of the aforementioned eight-man tournament at ONE: A NEW ERA in Tokyo, Japan last March, losing by first-round TKO.
Since then, numerous names have been lined-up for Alvarez as he eagerly looks to bounce back and return inside the ONE Circle, and one of the leading names on the list is Folayang.
“When I entered ONE Championship it was very easy to pick and choose who I wanted to face next, but when you lose you don't have the same power,” Alvarez said.
“Whoever the promotion wants me to fight, I'll go for it. I'm here to fight the best guys in the world and compete at the highest level,” he added.
While he did not exactly choose who he will be facing, Folayang is someone who has been on the crosshairs of Alvarez for the longest time, and he believes he has it all figured out come Friday.
“Eduard [Folayang] throws a lot of surprise attacks. I'm planning to take him down so that none of that works. Take him down and everything will start not working for him,” Alvarez said.
“We've seen what happened in the Aoki match where he lost on the ground. I can also use my boxing because I feel that I'm the better boxer. He got great kicks, great spins, and surprise attacks, but I'm the better boxer, wrestler, and overall mixed martial artist.”
Make no mistake about it, Alvarez also acknowledges Folayang’s incredible accomplishments in his career. But for the American athlete, he simply believes that he will be the superior man on Friday night.
“I respect Eduard. I respect everything he’s done – not just as a fighter. Eduard is a wushu fighter. If this a wushu fight then I might have a problem, but this is not a wushu match, this is MMA. I can go to the ground, I can stand up, wrestle, box and everything,” Alvarez said.
“I have done this longer than anyone in this whole card. I'm the better fighter by far.”
Coming off a disappointing loss, Alvarez is fired up to win and to add Folayang’s name in his long list of top-caliber victims.
“Coming off a loss it puts fire in your belly and bolts your ego again. I've been doing this for 16 years, so it is important to have something new and for me sometimes losing is new and makes you change by doing the proper changes,” Alvarez said
“I'm the championship killer. Just look at my resume and you can see the long list of names that I've defeated. Eduard is another champion. He might not have the belt right now, but he is a champion. Once a champion, always a champion. So for me he is another champion that I can add to my collection."