It is worth noting that despite Alvarez’s impressive knockout victory over Dos Anjos, he hasn’t been as successful in his UFC career as you would expect from a champion. His championship win was just his 3rd win in the UFC, his other 2 coming via split-decision.
Alvarez’s last fight in Bellator before leaving for the UFC was also a controversial split-decision win over current Bellator LW champion Michael Chandler. While a trilogy fight between Chandler and Alvarez was in the works, Alvarez opted to vacate the title and sign with the UFC instead.
His victory over Dos Anjos was his first non-split decision win since Bellator 76 in 2012.
Owen Roddy Confident in Conor
But it’s the way Conor’s style matches-up against Alvarez’s skill-set that has his coach Owen Roddy so confident. He had the following to say:
“Alvarez is a great wrestler, so there will be things we’ll be working on with Conor to make sure that Alvarez can’t keep a hold of him, can’t keep him against the fence, but Conor’s gonna land and I think it’s going to be a matter of time before Alvarez goes to sleep to be totally honest.”
Despite the fact that Alvarez has only been knocked out once in his MMA career, Roddy doesn’t seem worried that Conor will be able to finish him.
“I honestly think Alvarez has been dropped a few times and stuff like that. So I mean, that’s not good knowing when you’re going in to fight Conor McGregor. If you’ve been dropped before and you’re going in fighting Conor McGregor, there’s a very, very high chance that you’re going to be dropped again.”
The comments made by Roddy contradict what Eddie Alvarez stated during the recent UFC 205 press conference. Alvarez stated that Conor’s coaches and “anyone who knows about fighting” knows that Conor doesn’t have a shot. Speaking to Eddie’s comments Roddy stated:
“I think he’s trying to convince himself, more so than anybody else, that he has a shot. At the end of the day, Conor’s went down and proved it time and time again. And you can say what you want, but the proof is in the pudding. Who’s done what he’s done? Nobody. But I think you can kind of see in Eddie’s eyes. Like from what I looked at, it looked like he was trying to convince himself more so than anybody else. At the end of the day, like anybody, when you’re in there, I’m sure Eddie’s going to give a resolve, but I just don’t think he has the skillset to beat Conor, to be totally honest.”
Check out the full interview with Roddy below:
