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Eddie Alvarez proves he's UFC elite with win over Anthony Pettis

From its founding in 2009, Eddie Alvarez was Bellator’s shining star, an upstart company’s biggest claim to legitimacy in a mixed martial arts world dominated by the UFC.

The affable Philadelphia native’s talents were such that a nasty legal brawl broke out between the UFC and Bellator when Alvarez came up for free agency in 2013 before the lightweight finally landed in the UFC in 2014.

All those years Alvarez lorded over Bellator’s 155-pound class, though, there would always be naysayers, those who believed he was simply the king of the minor leagues.

Eddie Alvarez (R) celebrates after his split-decision victory over Anthony Pettis on Sunday. (Getty)
Eddie Alvarez (R) celebrates after his split-decision victory over Anthony Pettis on Sunday. (Getty)

But there’s no more disputing Alvarez’s credentials after his latest accomplishment, a split-decision victory over Anthony Pettis on Sunday night in the co-feature bout of UFC Fight Night 81 at Boston’s TD Garden.

Alvarez’s win over the former UFC and WEC champion comes on the heels of his UFC 188 decision over former Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez, making him the clear-cut winner of a round-robin of sorts between elite fighters who spent years chirping at one another while collecting all the major titles outside the UFC.

"When I signed with Lorenzo [Fertitta] and Dana [White], I simply told them that I would like the best guys that you guys have in the division," Alvarez said at Sunday’s postfight news conference. "I didn't want top-15. I wasn't trying to look to show the fans something that I wasn't. I wanted the best guys and they’ve been giving me the best guys.”

If there’s been a knock on Alvarez’s run in the UFC – one which started with a decision loss to Donald Cerrone at UFC 178, his only defeat since 2011 – it’s that he hasn’t put on the go-for-broke, thrilling brawls that marked his Bellator tenure, particularly his memorable pair of fights with Michael Chandler.

Alvarez, who turned 32 last week, notes that he’s fought nothing but the highest-level competition since jumping to the UFC. And to that end, with a fighter’s limited window, he’s going to take the smartest approach to his fights each time out, whether or not the crowd is pleased in the process.

"I don't need anyone to tell me what I should've done,” Alvarez said. “I want to be more exciting, trust me. But I'm not [fighting] guys who are ranked 25 and 30. There's a real small margin for error at the top, and you can't be going out there being reckless with a guy like Anthony Pettis, who is dangerous.”

In the case of Pettis, that meant following the blueprint Rafael dos Anjos used in lifting the lightweight title last March, which itself was taken from a gameplan Clay Guida used against Pettis in a 2011 upset.

Pettis long seemed on the brink of superstardom with his arsenal of flashy strikes, as he became the first MMA fighter ever featured on a Wheaties box. But he’s suffered frequent injuries, and there now seems a foolproof gameplan for any fighter crafty enough to follow it: Stay in Pettis’ face, back him against the fence, wear him down, and don’t give him space to pull off one of his lightning-quick finishes.

Alvarez did an exemplary job in doing so in the first and third rounds Sunday. Pettis seemed to find his footing in winning the second round, but gassed in the third as Alvarez found another gear.

Eddie Alvarez smothered Anthony Pettis with pressure to come away with a split-decision victory. (Getty)
Eddie Alvarez smothered Anthony Pettis with pressure to come away with a split-decision victory. (Getty)

“He's talented, but he has a deep hole [in his game], so I need to exploit that,” Alvarez said. “I'd be stupid not to. So I definitely got the job done. If I was able to do some highlights in-between, then that's great. But look, I want to do something huge here.”

That said, Alvarez admits he would have liked the opportunity to mix it up a little more.

"I would've liked to let my hands go a little more,” he said. “Anthony is a dangerous guy, and the idea was to wear him down, take all the pop off that fancy stuff, and just scrape him off the cage and beat him up. And he's so talented. It's tough to take risks against a guy like that.”

Still, Alvarez, who is notoriously tough on himself, thought he had earned a clear-cut victory, and was shocked that one judge saw the fight Pettis’ way. All three scorecards were 29-28, with two going in Alvarez’s favor.

"I didn't see a split decision going in," Alvarez said. "I'm the type of fighter who assumes I lose every round. I need my coach to tell me how I did. But that fight in particular, when I went back after the third, I assumed that I won the fight. So to see a split, that was a little shocking for me.”

The victories over Pettis and Melendez would seem to be the sort that would give Alvarez a claim at a title shot. But there’s a big roadblock, as dos Anjos’ next title defense, on March 6, is against newly crowned featherweight champ Conor McGregor.

But while fighters at both 155 pounds and 145 have griped about the matchup, Alvarez is OK with the idea of McGregor coming up in weight. The way he sees it, it’s all about the green, and we’re not talking about the Irish flag.

“Money, money, money,” Alvarez told MMAFighting.com. “The more money we can get in this division, the better. So far, the titleholders haven’t brought too much revenue to the lightweight division. We’re the best division, we’re the most talented division, but we need a guy who’s going to talk [expletive]. I love when money comes into the picture. ... You like to have a guy like Conor come to the lightweight division and possibly get a fight and make a couple million dollars.”

Follow Dave Doyle on Twitter: @DaveDoyleMMA

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