“I was delusional” - Eddie Alvarez on feeling near-invincible as a young fighter

Multiple-time world champion Eddie Alvarez recently shed light on who he was as a young fighter before becoming ‘The Underground King’.

On an episode of Beyond the Fight with retired MMA legend Chael Sonnen, Alvarez dug deep into his past to talk about how he got started in fighting.

The Philadelphia native recalled feeling invincible during his teenage years after finishing his first nine fights via KO.

He said:

“I finished my first nine fights by knockout. I sincerely, at 19, [thought] that I was the baddest man on the planet, that no one [could] beat me in a fist fight. In my mind, like I got beaten in high school wrestling matches, but if someone was to say ‘But how about a fight?’ I really believed that, there was no doubt in my mind, [nobody] could beat me in a fight.

"When I tried fighting and I went 9-0, I’d say ‘See, I told you so.’ I fucking knew it, I was putting people away. I was in a lot of street fights from about 16 all the way to 19, just in trouble, out in Philadelphia doing bad shit with bad people and then getting in a lot of nonsense. And then I decided, ‘Hey I wanna try this’ because I really believed no one [could] beat me in a fight. I really believed that. I was delusional.”

‘The Underground King’ wouldn’t be where he is today or have accomplished so much in the sport if he hadn’t been “delusional” as a teenager. With so much story remaining to be written, fans can’t wait to see what’s next in store for the now 38-year-old icon.

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Eddie Alvarez hopes to perform in Philadelphia for American fanbase with ONE Championship

Eddie Alvarez hopes to cross out performing in Philadelphia”off his bucket list next year. When ONE Vice President Rich Franklin revealed that the organization is working towards hosting a live event on US soil, fans started speculating where the first event will take place.

Also pumped by the news, Alvarez expressed that he would love to put on a show for fans back home. Eddie Alvarez told Helen Yee Sports in Los Angeles:

“If they were able to get here into the United States anytime soon you know, Philadelphia, of course, No.1. [If] we could sell out the Wachovia, anything down there at the Wells Fargo, we’d sell out Philadelphia. So that will be a dream come true of mine, a bucket list of mine.”