By:  | November 30, 2023 1:49 pm

Eddie Alvarez is back in his homeland after a career that featured two stints in Asia. He faces Mike Perry at BKFC 56 in what will be his second bare knuckle boxing match.

He might be turning 40 in January but Alvarez is enjoying a new lease of life as a bare knuckle boxer after an underwhelming stint with ONE Championship. Ahead of his fight with Perry in Salt Lake City this weekend he reminisced about his time fighting in Asia,

“This is two decades of fighting, I started back in 2003. I flew over to Japan, fight in Japan in the lightweight Grand Prix. It was called Dream, used to be Pride, I fought there and I beat everyone there.”

Back in America

Alvarez won three out of three for Dream and earned a spot in the final of the lightweight Grand Prix. He was forced to withdraw after suffering an arm injury but wouldn’t have to wait too long for silverware.

After a surprise defeat to Shinya Aoki at K-1 Dynamite in 2008 he was signed by Bellator. The rest is history as Alvarez went on to establish himself as the best lightweight in the world.

It was after his successful stint fighting in Japan that Alvarez’ career really started to take off,

“Then I came back to America and started my American run. I won the Bellator title, then I went to the UFC and won that title. I left the UFC and did another stint in Asia. But now I’m back in America.”

Most violent

It seems that Alvarez’ MMA career might be over. But he is still fighting mixed martial artists and beat former UFC featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes by split decision last time out.

Alvarez was knocked down early on in that fight and says he has learned from the experience,

“It was exciting getting ready for that fight because the type of fighter Mendes is. I learned from it and I can make some adjustments.”

The fight with Perry this weekend is being billed as a battle for the crown of ‘King of Violence’ and there is even a specially made title on the line. It sounds like Alvarez is taking that seriously,

This is my style first and foremost, there can only be one ‘most violent’ and you’re looking at him.”

History of violence

Alvarez’ reputation for violence has been established over the course of decades with knockout wins over the likes of Justin Gaethje, Rafael dos Anjos and Shinya Aoki. Perry doesn’t have quite as impressive a body of work and the 39 year old sounds confident he will be the one doing the damage this weekend,

“I’ve done this before with other fighters that everyone thought was the scariest guy there is and I know what I’ve done with them, I know what I’m a capable of.”

Alvarez has also been in some wild wars with the likes of Michael Chandler and Tatsuya Kawajiri. He is adamant that he is ‘the king of violence’ and this weekend he intends to collect his crown,

“When it comes to measured, calculated violence in the best. I am the king of violence.”