UFC's Eddie Alvarez Won't Waste Time: I Don't Have Another 20 Years

The best story regarding Eddie Alvarez’ move back to Philadelphia from sunny Florida would be that the hard-nosed lightweight contender had gotten too civilized in Boca Raton and needed to get his grit back in the City of Brotherly Love.

That wouldn’t be true though. Instead, the 31-year-old’s decision to go back home and work with the Ricardo Almeida Fight Team for his Jan. 17 bout with Anthony Pettis has nothing to do with fighting. It’s much more important than that.

“A lot of people assume that there must have been something wrong when it came to the Blackzilians or something wrong with my training while I was in Florida, and that’s why I moved,” he said. “But the assumption’s wrong. It’s more of a family thing. My kids didn’t want to be there, my wife wasn’t happy there and originally when we went there, it was an agreement between me and my wife that we give it a try, and if it didn’t work out, no matter what, we were doing everything together. I always did my camps at home with my family, and that was the agreement. If we go to Florida, we go together. If we go home, we go together. Florida didn’t work out for all of us, so we made the choice to go back home. I’ve always had a great team here in Philadelphia, and there’s a great team also in Florida, and I consider a lot of the coaches and training partners my brothers.”

If you’ve paid attention to Alvarez over the years, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. He’s an old school fighter with old school values. Family comes first, hard work is the most admirable attribute anyone can have, and when it’s time to do your job, you do it. As a fighter, Alvarez brings a style that should come with a black and white filter on the television screen, as he’s a throwback to another era. There is no flash, and that’s why he’s a fan favorite and a fighter’s fighter. And he never lost that, whether in Florida or Philly.