Eddie Alvarez MMAMemories.com Exclusive Biofile Published by Scoop Malinowski Last Updated on December 10th, 2008

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STATUS: Dream Grand Prix Lightweight champion.
HT: 5-8 WT: 170
DOB: January 11, 1984 IN: Philadelphia, PA
FIGHTING INSPIRATION: “What inspires me to fight? My family. The support I get from friends. The city I fight for – the fans here are some of the best in the world. And my kids are an inspiration. I want them to see models of success. If they see it, it will be a lot easier for them to believe and be successful in their futures.”
HOBBIES/LEISURE ACTIVITIES: “I have two things – hang out with my family, my wife and kids, and I fight [smiles]. I like to take my kids everywhere – aquariums, museums, zoos, amusement parks. You name it, I’ve been there three to five times.”
NICKNAMES: “The first time I went to Japan they named me The Monster Kid. Then the second time I went to Japan they called me American Knuckle Star [laughs]. Recently, someone here called me Silent Assassin.”
FAVORITE MOVIES: “I don’t actually have a favorite. I like anything with Ben Stiller in it. I liked Gladiator. Meet The Parents.”
FAVORITE TV SHOWS: “I like Seinfeld. I think Seinfeld is funny.”
LAST BOOK READ: “‘Ultra-Marathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner’ by Dean Karnazes. Amazing book. I read it during a training camp and it had my fitness on a different level. The guy’s just unbelievable, just reading it, he inspired me to push harder than ever before. He makes you push harder.”
MUSICAL TASTES: “Hip-hop, reggae, dance music. I think fighting has a lot to do with rhythm, timing, beats. A little bit of reggaeton.”
FAVORITE WEB SITES: “Alvarezfight.com [laughs]. Look it up, check it out.”
EARLY FIGHTING MEMORY: “When I fought for the Reality Fighting welterweight belt against Chris Schlesinger (Atlantic City in 2004). When we fought it was a big New York-Philadelphia, all my people, people from Philadelphia don’t have a lot of money, so they sat up in the $35 seats. All the Long Island people are pretty wealthy, they’re up front by the cage. When I got in the cage they were cursing, spitting, saying You’re gonna get knocked out. I’m just looking at ‘em and smiling. I go to fight Chris, finished it in like a minute. I go up on the cage, chanting 2-1-5! The Philly people all started chanting 2-1-5. Someone threw a bottle at me when I was up on the cage. I slipped it and got out of the way of it, got down from the cage. All my fans came down and just like a big riot broke out.”
CHILDHOOD DREAM: “I just wanted to be above average.”
FIRST JOB: “I delivered newspapers, fourth grade. The Philadelphia Daily News. Door to door. I made $36 a week. After school. I’d go around on my roller blades. I did it on my bike for a while but it almost got stolen a couple of times while delivering. I always worked, always on the hustle.”
FIRST CAR: “Geo Tracker (green). Tinted windows. I thought I was the coolest guy around [laughs]. I used to go 100. It was like riding a rollercoaster. The car was only like ten-feet long.”
CURRENT CAR: “Lincoln Navigator (black) and Mitsubishi Endeavor (red).”
PRE-FIGHT FEELING/MINDSET: “I focus on my performance more than anything. Try to block out any self-doubt or any negative things. Being in the present, enjoying the moment as it’s happening. Try to enjoy the night. It’s like a celebration. You got through training uninjured, the payday is here. The older I get I focus on how fortunate, blessed I am to be able to get to fight. And put on a good show for everyone.”
FAVORITE MEAL: “That’s so tough. I love sweets, I love desserts. My favorite meal…I love food so much it’s hard to pick…I like sushi a lot.”
FAVORITE BREAKFAST CEREAL: “Kashi Go Crunch.”
FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR: “Chocolate, for sure. Phish Food (Ben & Jerry’s). It’s so good.”
GREATEST CAREER MOMENT(S): “I think the Lightweight Grand Prix (2008). That tournament, I enjoyed fighting in that so much. I enjoyed it so much that’s why I fought so well. The fight against Joachim (Hansen) made history – it got only the second standing ovation in Japanese history – Fedor and Cro Cop was the only other. Fighting in front of that big a crowd. Fighting someone who I had watched fight and looked up to so much. And it was such a good fight. There was a lot to take in. That was a good time. I had a lot of fun in that tournament.”
MOST PAINFUL MOMENT: “In my career, was definitely my one and only loss – to Nick Thompson (L TKO strikes in 2007). It was a lot to deal with at one time. I was inexperienced as a fighter. Before that I wasn’t really in any fights, just pretty much total dominations. I didn’t really have any struggles in fights. I never had lost a fight, period, in my life. Never lost a struggle. Even fighting on the street, it was my only loss. So it was a lot to deal with. I questioned my abilities. I learned and grew a lot. It was important for that to happen when it did. It needed to happen. Now I’m glad I learned from that and moved on.”
WORST INJURY: “No worst injury. I never really had any really bad injuries. Thank God I was able to get through most of my training camps unscathed. Just small injuries, nothing big. Knock on wood.”
FUNNY FIGHTING MEMORY: “After the (Tatsuya) Kawajiri fight. I never was in a tournament before. I wanted to do it, fight twice in one night. I volunteered and joined the tournament. I made it to the finals, my eye’s swollen, my foot hurts. I run back to the back, laying down on the couch. Steve my trainer has ice on my eye. My other trainer is massaging my back. My wife, thank God I brought her with me. I’m like, Did I really volunteer to do this?! I should have just did the single fight. It was one of those shitty times – but it was so shitty it was funny.”
EMBARRASSING CAREER MEMORY: “Right before I was to fight Kawajiri. It was not embarrassing but it had the potential to be really embarrassing. We come out. Finals of the Grand Prix. 30,000 people. Spotlight on you, all the cameras in the place are on you. I climb up the ring ropes. The stool under me – it slipped and went out from under me – if I would have fallen on my face, that would have been bad. You can see it on the tape in the beginning. I kinda caught myself in time.”
FAVORITE FIGHTERS TO WATCH: “Georges St. Pierre is up there. His performances are always fun to watch, on point. BJ Penn is a really good guy to watch. You never know what to expect, he always puts on a good show. And I like Wanderlei. He throws caution to the wind. He always tries to put on a great show and he always tries to finish his opponent.”
TOUGHEST MAN FACED: “I have to go with Joachim Hansen. I hit a lot of guys and they kept on coming. I think I knocked Joachim out in the beginning of the fight. And he was fighting (while) knocked out for like five minutes. And he kept coming and almost finished me at the end. Super resilient, really durable. One of those guys you’re not gonna shake him in any way or make him buckle. He fights with a lot of spirit. (He told you after he was knocked out?) We talked about it after, with him and his trainer. He was fighting on pure instinct, not with it. His trainer said he wasn’t even responding to him in the first 30 seconds in the corner. He was fighting me like that. And he was doing pretty good too.”
YOUR BEST/FINEST PERFORMANCE(S): “My best performance, where I feel like everything fell into place, went my way…I think I fought really well against Ross Ebanez from BJ Penn’s place. I trained super hard for that fight, as always. The fight was on SHOWTIME. I think I executed the game-plan like I wanted to. It was a good struggle. I caught him with a front leg trip, got him off balance. Then caught him with a right hand that ended the fight. A good finish, a good fight altogether. I remember being pleased with my performance.”
LAST VACATION: “Honeymoon with my wife to St. Kitts. Beautiful place.”
PEOPLE QUALITIES MOST ADMIRED: “Honesty. Integrity is very important. People who are hard-working, humble.”

Scoop’s first book “Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle” is available at www.amazon.com