A.Oil Alvarez (20-3) Returns to the Octagon. The Asturian wrestler, nicknamed El Fenómeno, fights this Saturday (starting at 9 p.m., opening of the main card) UFC Abu Dhabi. Your opponent will be Brazilian. Brenner Elf (16-4) The Spanish player starts as an unsure candidate. In preparation and in the UAE, indulged in frequent weight loss or brand.
I ask. How are you preparing for your return to the UFC?
to reply. Bubble. Valaram-I have been looking at my opponents here for five weeks. But Ali had warned me two weeks before that he was going to fight in Abu Dhabi. Well, well, I was just preparing myself, I didn’t know any opponents, I didn’t know anything. It was a very general training that I knew. However, here in Abu Dhabi we always have the Limbranca. And we know that we won’t have any problems here. Honestly, what a blast, very happy. The camp was very busy and I have everything tied up now. Now it remains, like the EU, an ugly part of losing weight.
Honestly, what a blast, so happy. It's a very busy camp and I'm tied up now and everything is going smoothly.
Q: How are you?
R. I have four kilos left, very good. This is in numbers, this is the last time in London. The same numbers are the weight reduction for all the faces in London. At the moment, everything is happening, but now we have the last thing, which is that when something happens to you: your voice is imprisoned, your body tells you that I am here… That's it, nothing. But in principle, everything should go very well and naturally.
Q: You mentioned Ali Abdelaziz, your businessman and one of the two most important MMA fighters in the world. How is your relationship?
R. He's really, really cool. He's a man to talk to, we talk about the truth and what was good. He's a legal face, not a final account. The technician job is great, and most of all we've had a long-term friendship since he was living in Las Vegas, and we spent every day together. He'd say he's more than just a manager. A close relationship.
Q: How do you analyze your competitor? What do you expect from Brenner?
R. Well, I would say that change is better. Or I am more dynamic and more precise, I think. This is the most powerful force, but it is less precise and less clean. But a “hit” from the water, it is like a surgical operation.
I'm getting older, getting older, getting older, getting older. All of these last sparring partners have worked very well.
Q: You are the favorite…
R. Anything can happen in a fight, I always say that. We climb with the intention to win. I imagine he will also climb with that intention… But I prepared myself to beat him. And let's see, I'm bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger. All these last sparring partners worked very well. He looks much stronger than other times. In fact, I think that this weekend we can win, and I hope to have more wins and I hope that there will be more wins by the end so that we don't break the statistics.
Joel Alvarez celebrates his latest UFC victory.
P. Você falou First of all, you have no problems fighting in Abu Dhabi. There were some to fight the United States. And how many to Mexico and Canada…?
R. I don't know why these places never exist. After all, I'm a worker, and wherever they send me, I have to go… But I tell you, I'll be sent here, to Europe, to Manchester, London, Paris… The best. Because for me, for my equipment, it's very, very comfortable.
Q. If I win, I'll be 6-2 in the UFC and once again in the top 15 division.
R. This is a very difficult division, but it's also very broad. It's not easy to get in. You have to fight repeatedly. And now you just have to fight against someone who is already there, in the top 15. It's not easy but it's where we should be, where we deserve to be. We will work hard to try to get back into this classification.
Top 15? It's not easy but where we should be, where we deserve to be. Let's work hard to try to get back into that ranking.
Q: Do you feel pressure to be ranked?
R. No, the truth is that I don't have any pressure. There's nothing I remember at night. But I want to move up the rankings. I want to fight two to three times a year, and work for the remaining years in the company. Now I see this more as a job than a country, as it was before.
Joel Alvarez, in an archival photo.
Q: What is the “roteiro” marked with? UFC Spain target?
R. The first thing is to win this weekend in Abu Dhabi. But okay, we would like to participate in UFC Spain… It's funny, of course, that we haven't seen any data yet. We don't know if it will be the beginning of 2025 or later. If you think about it, I would like to fight 2 to 3 times a year. Be efficient. Be at work… Idleness, of course, is what I have the best experience with. It killed me, especially mentally, not last year. There is no end, you prepare a camp, prepare another… It's tiring, but you have to prepare mentally for nothing and it's kind of “bash, damn it”. I want to be active and fight.
If you think so, I would fight 2 to 3 times a year. Be active. Be in action… Idleness, of course, is what I have the best experience of.
Q: How did you watch UFC 308, tonight in Abu Dhabi, with you and Ilya Topuria fighting on the same card?
R. Uau… bem, that would be so cool. Sao more or less 12 weeks, Sim… he'll be ready for the preseason. Well, sharing the poster with Elijah would be incredible. It would be great to see us at that event.
Q: Out of curiosity, if this hypothesis is correct… will there be exhibitions between fights?
R. Well, I hope to take advantage of this August because, above all, I give it to my family. This is not a camp year at all because of the two fights that were cancelled and I didn't have as much family time as I would like. There's not always a final voice with the tension of the fight. You don't relax in the same way.
Joel Alvarez, during the weigh-in.
P. Você is defined as someone who travels. He is Joel, just like that. What did you say from Gijon to Abu Dhabi?
R. Well, actually, it's legal for me to ask why these days, well, right before I came, I had a puppy in my face, not because people said you're going to be better, that you're getting older. We know. They stopped me and said, How are you, Joel? Is the blacksmith coming soon on August 3? He wishes you well and you see that he really likes you. They're not on social media. If you read the daily paper, make sure you come to the local daily paper. He's read some things, some news and I'll tell you, wow, that's why I'm really excited, I'm really excited because it's Vale, wow, how legal. You're like a construction camp, it makes me feel absolutely alive.
You're like a construction camp, it makes me feel so alive.
Q: Finally…more adventure for Pancho Villa's army, right?
R. Sim Sim. To explain Iso. Every trip, every time people plan something… something is wrong, something is wrong, something is wrong. Well, this is the same Pancho Villa army. Umm Asim the little one We started that prayer and kept going. There is no final FICO because something always happens that we know is always wrong, or we lose something bad or we get upset, a thousand things that there is no room to comment on. I am happy.
