UFC welterweight fighter Joel Alvarez issued a statement following his unanimous decision loss to Chidi Njokuani at UFC 330.
Despite entering the bout as a -400 betting favorite, Alvarez was ineffective in this matchup against Njokuani, who kept the fight standing and picked apart the Spaniard on the feet for 15 minutes en route to a unanimous decision victory as a +300 betting underdog.
Joel Alvarez Reacts to UFC 330 Defeat
Taking to his social media following UFC 330, Alvarez shared his reaction to losing to Njokuani in a big upset loss.
“Hey everyone, I just wanted to stop by and thank you all for the support, as always. You’re the best—there’s no doubt about that. As for me, I need to get my head right; I don’t want to do things just for the sake of doing them or let circumstances dictate my actions. We’ll see each other again, but not yet—not just yet,” Alvarez wrote on his Instagram.
What’s Next for Joel Alvarez?
Based on these comments from Alvarez, it appears that he will be taking some time off after losing to Njokuani to get his head straight, which makes sense, given he was a huge favorite in this fight and yet was completely dominated for 15 minutes by a giant underdog.
Alvarez used to be a lightweight UFC fighter, and it feels like, in hindsight, he was so much better at 155 lbs because he had a height and size advantage over basically everyone he was fighting against in that weight class.
But at welterweight, Alvarez no longer enjoys the massive height, reach, and length advantages that he had when he was a lightweight, and he simply isn’t as effective in his new weight class as he was before.
We’ll see what the UFC does with Alvarez next, but he could be in a must-win situation his next time out after losing two straight fights against Njokuani and Yaroslav Amosov.
To be fair to Alvarez, those are two difficult opponents in the welterweight division to face. But at the same time, he simply needs to perform better if he wants to keep his job.
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