Eddie Alvarez

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Eddie Alvarez
Born	January 11, 1984 (1984-01-11) (age�26) Kensington, Philadelphia, United States
Other names	The Silent Assassin American Knuckle Star
Nationality	American
Height	5�ft�9�in (1.75�m)
Weight	155�lb (70�kg; 11.1�st)
Division	Lightweight Welterweight
Style	Boxing, Wrestling
Fighting out of	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Team	Fight Factory
MMA record
Total	22
Wins	20
By knockout	11
By�submission	7
Losses	2

Eddie Alvarez is an American mixed martial arts fighter, and current Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight champion. Sherdog.com ranks Alvarez as the #5 lightweight in the world. Alvarez also competes for the Japanese DREAM promotion, and used to fight for ProElite's EliteXC promotion.

Biography

Of Puerto Rican and Spanish descent, Alvarez was born and raised in Kensington, Philadelphia, a rough neighborhood with a reputation for violent crime and an abundance of street narcotics.

Known in MMA for his boxing prowess, Alvarez was a wrestler at Northeast Catholic High School. After high school, Alvarez immediately pursued a professional career in MMA with his first fight coming after only eight months of formal training.

Alvarez utilized the financial success to move his family out of Kensington and into Northeast Philadelphia following the birth of his first son, Eddie Jr.

Mixed martial arts career

Alvarez won the MFC welterweight title in his seventh pro fight in June 2006 when he KO'd Derrick Noble just 1:01 into round 1. The MFC welterweight title would later be re-branded the BodogFIGHT welterweight title.

In spite of the fact that many insiders didn't view 170 pounds to be Alvarez's best competitive fighting weight, he continued to fight larger opponents because he relished the challenge of testing his mettle against bigger fighters. At Bodog Fight's "Clash of the Nations" pay per view in Russia on April 14, 2007, Alvarez's size disadvantage would be exposed, as he suffered his first career loss when he was TKO'd against UFC veteran Nick Thompson at 4:32 into round 2.

After deciding to leave Bodog, Alvarez quickly found a new home in EliteXC where he competed in their 160 pound division against Ross Ebanez, winning by TKO.

A few weeks prior to the first event, it was announced that the upstart Japanese promotion DREAM, started by the minds behind PRIDE FC and K-1 had signed Alvarez to compete in their 154 pound grand prix.

His initial fight was against Andre Amade, another potent striker, hailing from the notorious Chute Boxe Academy. During the fight, Alvarez was dropped by a strong right hand, but was able to recover and use his superior wrestling skills to score a TKO due to strikes from mount late in the first round.

Alvarez advanced to the second round of the tournament where he defeated top ranked lightweight fighter Joachim Hansen on May 11, 2008 by unanimous decision in an exciting fight. Hansen, who was known for his ability to take a punch, was dropped twice in the fight and dazed numerous other times by Alvarez's strikes.

In his fight at DREAM.5, Alvarez knocked out top ranked lightweight fighter Tatsuya Kawajiri in the tournament's semi-finals. The fight was awarded Fight of the Year by Sherdog for 2008. However, he was unable to advance in the tournament due to a cut and severe swelling under his right eye. Alvarez's replacement was none other than the man he defeated two months earlier, Joachim Hansen. Hansen went on to win the tournament and capture the DREAM lightweight title.

Alvarez was scheduled to face UFC and PRIDE veteran Nick Diaz for the EliteXC 160 pound title on November 8, 2008. but that fight was scrapped when EliteXC's parent ProElite closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy. On New Year's Eve 2008 Alvarez fought against Shinya Aoki at K-1 Dynamite!! 2008 , losing by submission in the first round. He has since been signed to an exclusive contract with Bellator Fighting Championships.

Alvarez most recently defeated Katsunori Kikuno at Dream 12 via second round submission (arm triangle choke).

Bellator Fighting Championships

Alvarez entered Bellator's lightweight tournament at Bellator's inaugural event on April 3, 2009. He fought against Greg Loughran, who landed a left hook which caused Alvarez to buckle his legs. Alvarez survived, however, and submitted Loughran with a guillotine choke. His next fight at the tournament's semi-finals took place four weeks later at Bellator V, against Eric Reynolds. After controlling the bout for two rounds, Alvarez used a rear naked choke to submit Reynolds in the third.

Alvarez advanced to the lightweight tournament's finals, which took place at Bellator XII on June 19, 2009. He fought and defeated Toby Imada, via a rear naked choke submission early in the second round, to become Bellator's first ever lightweight champion.

Alvarez most recently faced Josh Neer in a non-title "Super fight" on May 6, 2010 at Bellator 17 in which he showed great wrestling and standup to go on to defeat Neer by way of rear-naked choke at 2:08 of round 2 as the choke was so well sunk in Neer would pass out from hypoxemia.

Fight history

Current Bellator Lightweight Champion and Bellator's season one lightweight tournament winner.
Former BodogFIGHT welterweight champion. The title was originally known as the Mixed Fighting Championship welterweight title.
Two time National Prep All-American as Northeast Catholic High School wrestler.
Extensive street fighting background. Claims to be undefeated in unsanctioned fights.
Was a part of the Sherdog Fight of the Year in 2008 with Tatsuya Kawajiri

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
22�matches	20�wins	2�losses
By knockout	11	1
By submission	7	1
By decision	2	0

Record	Opponent	Method	Round	Time	Event	Location	Date	Notes
Win (20-2)	Josh Neer	Technical Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	2	2:08	Bellator 17	USA Boston, Massachusetts, USA	02010-05-06 May 6, 2010	Catchweight (160 lbs) bout
Win (19-2)	Katsunori Kikuno	Submission (Arm Triangle Choke)	2	3:42	DREAM.12 Cage of the Rising Sun	JPN Osaka, Japan, JPN	02009-10-26 October 26, 2009
Win (18-2)	Reynolds Toby Imada	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	2	0:38	Bellator 12	USA Hollywood, Florida, USA	02009-06-19 June 19, 2009	Final Round of Bellator Lightweight Tournament. Becomes Bellator Season One Lightweight Champion.
Win (17-2)	Reynolds Eric Reynolds	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	3	1:30	Bellator 5	USA Dayton, Ohio, USA	02009-05-01 May 1, 2009	Second Round of Bellator Lightweight Tournament
Win (16-2)	Loughran Greg Loughran	Submission (Guillotine Choke)	1	2:44	Bellator 1	USA Hollywood, Florida, USA	02009-04-03 April 3, 2009	First Round of Bellator Lightweight Tournament
Loss (15-2)	Aoki Shinya Aoki	Submission (Heel Hook)	1	1:32	Dynamite!! 2008	Japan Saitama, Japan	02008-12-31 December 31, 2008	For WAMMA Lightweight Championship
Win (15-1)	Kawajiri Tatsuya Kawajiri	TKO (Punches)	1	7:35	DREAM.5 Light Weight Grand Prix 2008 Final Round	Japan Osaka, Japan	02008-07-21 July 21, 2008	Semifinal of DREAM Lightweight Grandprix, suffered eye injury and was pulled from Final Sherdog 2008 Fight of the Year [1]
Win (14-1)	Hansen Joachim Hansen	Decision (Unanimous)	2	5:00	DREAM.3 Light Weight Grand Prix 2008 Second Round	Japan Saitama, Japan	02008-05-11 May 11, 2008	Quarterfinal of DREAM Lightweight Grandprix
Win (13-1)	Amade Andre Amade	TKO (Punches)	1	6:47	DREAM.1 Light Weight Grand Prix 2008 First Round	Japan Saitama, Japan	02008-03-15 March 15, 2008	Opening Round of DREAM Lightweight Grandprix
Win (12-1)	Ebanez Ross Ebanez	KO (Punches)	2	2:32	ShoXC Elite Challenger Series	USA Atlantic City, NJ, USA	02008-01-21 January 21, 2008	165�lb Catchweight
Win (11-1)	Lee Matt Lee	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00	Bodog Fight: Alvarez vs. Lee	USA Trenton, NJ, USA	02007-07-14 July 14, 2007
Loss (10-1)	Thompson Nick Thompson	TKO (Strikes)	2	4:32	BodogFIGHT: Clash of the Nations	Russia St. Petersburg, Russia	02007-04-14 April 14, 2007	Lost BodogFIGHT Welterweight Championship
Win (10-0)	Henze Scott Henze	TKO (Corner Stoppage)	1	4:13	Bodog Fight: Season 3 "Costa Rica"	Costa Rica	02007-02-16 February 16, 2007
Win (9-0)	Riley Aaron Riley	KO (Punches)	1	1:05	Bodog Fight: USA vs. Russia	Canada Vancouver, Canada	02006-12-02 December 2, 2006	Won BodogFIGHT Welterweight Championship
Win (8-0)	Koike Hidenobu Koike	TKO (Punches)	1	1:26	GCM: Mars New Deal	Japan Tokyo, Japan	02006-08-26 August 26, 2006
Win (7-0)	Noble Derrick Noble	KO (Punches)	1	1:01	MFC 7: Russia vs. USA	USA Atlantic City, NJ, USA	02006-06-03 June 3, 2006
Win (6-0)	Hanazawa Daisuke Hanazawa	TKO (Strikes)	1	4:00	MFC 5: USA vs. Japan	USA Atlantic City, NJ, USA	02005-11-05 November 5, 2005
Win (5-0)	Veselov Danila Veselov	TKO (Punches)	2	2:15	MFC 4: Russia vs. USA 2	USA Atlantic City, NJ, USA	02005-05-14 May 14, 2005
Win (4-0)	Ikemoto Seichi Ikemoto	TKO (Punches)	2	4:25	MFC 3: USA vs. the World	USA Atlantic City, NJ, USA	02005-02-26 February 26, 2005
Win (3-0)	Schlesinger Chris Schlesinger	Submission (Punches)	1	1:00	Reality Fighting 7	USA Atlantic City, NJ, USA	02004-10-16 October 16, 2004
Win (2-0)	Fearon Adam Fearon	Submission (Strikes)	1	2:06	Ring of Combat 6	USA Elizabeth, NJ, USA	02004-04-24 April 24, 2004
Win (1-0)	Ladonna Anthony Ladonna	KO (Punch)	1	3:57	Ring of Combat 5	USA Elizabeth, NJ, USA	02003-12-14 December 14, 2003