Joel Alvarez | Welterweight’s New Wild Card

Earlier in his UFC career, the 6-foot-3 fighter from Gijón, Asturias, Spain missed the mark on the scale in consecutive fights, and although he’d made the 156-pound limit every time since, the effort required to compete at lightweight became too much of a trade-off for Alvarez to continue making.

“I think the weight cuts were really hard, and it’s about the performance,” said Alvarez. “It was a lot. It was basically coming down to me fighting once a year because of the weight cuts, and now I can be a guy that fights three, four times a year. I can take fights on short notice like I’m doing right now, I can be ready, and it gives me an opportunity to love the sport more.

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“Last time I realized it was too many pounds to cut, and the rebound effect was a factor as well. It was sweet and sour because I wanna take the fight, but I have to cut a lot of weight. Now I have a different love for the sport. Life now has a different color at 170 — I feel so much better, and I feel that the performance increases by going up too.”

The idea that his efforts inside the Octagon might improve should give everyone in his new weight class come cause for concern as Alvarez had been lights out for the majority of his lightweight tenure.

After dropping a decision to underrated Russian Damir Ismagulov in his promotional debut, Alvarez rattled off four straight wins, including a submission finish of Joseph Duffy and a TKO stoppage win over Thiago Moises, setting up a showdown with fellow ascending lightweight prospect Arman Tsarukyan. He landed on the wrong side of the results that night — as just about everyone has against Tsarukyan — but quickly got back to his winning ways. He followed the setback with a submission win over Marc Diakiese before stopping Elves Brener and Drakkar Klose with strikes.

In all, Alvarez went 7-2 as a UFC lightweight, maintaining his 100-percent finishing rate while holding permanent residence on the doorstep of the Top 15. It was never skill or success that kept him from breaking into the rankings, but largely limited activity, and with this move to welterweight and initial pairing with Luque on Saturday, he has the opportunity to move into that same position in his new surroundings this weekend.

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“I think this is a new chapter in my life; it’s almost a new career to start at 170,” Alvarez said of his divisional debut. “(Luque) is a fighter I like — I consider myself a fan of his — and a guy I like watching, plus he’s a finisher like me. It’s the style of fight that really excites me, and why not do it in an arena in Rio well?

“I think he’s a natural Top 10 (fighter). Regardless of if he’s up there ranked, I see him as Top 10, and when you beat a guy like that, that’s where I’m gonna consider myself — Top 10 level and someone that should be there as well.

“But it’s one step at a time,” he added, making sure not to get too ahead of himself. “On Saturday, I have a murderer to deal with, so let’s get through that and look at this next chapter.”

So what can people expect when “El Fenomeno” steps into the Octagon at 170 pounds for the first time this weekend?

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“You can expect a fight that could be Fight of the Night – a very hard fight, a very tough fight between two dudes that could be Fight of the Night,” he said, unable to contain his smile. “It’s surgeon against surgeon; two guys that are very calculated in their striking, and it’s in hostile territory.”