The former UFC lightweight champion claims that Dustin Poirier chose to quit rather than fight in their controversial No Contest clash in May
Poirier claimed that Alvarez rejected the opportunity of a rematch.
“The Diamond” was bitterly disappointed when his bout with Eddie Alvarez was ended by illegal knees in the second round of their prelims bout. The 34-year-old sees things differently, however:
“When I looked back at the fight, when I assessed it myself as a fan and took the fighter outside of it, I sincerely think the guy just quit,” Alvarez told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour.
“The UFC knows that, Herb Dean knows that and they made him pay for it. He’s mad about it, but there’s nothing he can do about it. It’s over, but he’s angry that he quit.
“It’s very simple to go back and look at the tape. You see a clear conscious person who is able to fight just quit. I just feel like he tried to game everyone and he got gamed and he’s pissed about it.
“In the articles afterward he’s saying, ‘if the UFC just lets me move on and act like I beat him then I’ll just move on’, but I’m like what do you mean? First you’re saying that you want a rematch and now you’ll just move on if the UFC allows it?
“It was all a little funny. He tried to game everyone but it’s all there on the video. You see a man who’s conscious and clear-headed say to the ref, ‘I’m done.’
“You can’t game everyone. There’s a ton of people watching and there are (cameras) right there in your face. I didn’t like the way he went about that. He should have taken his five minutes and then came back and finished the fight.”
