Eddie Alvarez shuts down Dustin Poirier: A rematch would be ‘the silliest thing I could do’

Eddie Alvarez wants no part of a rematch with Dustin Poirier.

UFC 211’s slugfest between Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier ended up being ruled a No Contest (NC) after Alvarez unintentionally landed a series of illegal knees to Poirier in the second round.

Poirier, who recently shut out Anthony Pettis at UFC Fight Night 120, felt the bout should have been declared a DQ loss for Alvarez and has been campaigning for a rematch with ‘The Underground King’ ever since.

Alvarez, though, who knocked out former WSOF lightweight champion Justin Gaethje a couple of weeks ago at UFC 218, thinks a rematch with ‘The Diamond’ would be a huge step back.

In fact, the former UFC and Bellator 155-pound champ believes it would be the ‘silliest’ thing he could do.

“Considering what I just did, that would be the silliest thing I could do,” Alvarez said recently on The MMA Hour (h/t Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting). “They put me against an undefeated rising star in Justin Gaethje. They were going to give Gaethje a title fight. If Justin Gaethje beat me, he was going to fight for a title. Didn’t happen. I knocked the guy out and he’s never been beat in his life.”

Alvarez understands where Poirier is coming from but says a rematch with the lower-ranked contender would be ‘all for naught’.

“I respect Dustin for the push, he’s doing his best job,” Alvarez said. “But it’s all for naught. It would be silly for me to let me go backwards and look at that guy. I’m looking the same way he’s looking: Forward at like Tony Ferguson, we’ll keep an eye on the Khabib-Barboza fight. I’m going to do my best to help Edson whoop on Khabib. We’ll see how that top shakes out.”

Alvarez has just one fight left on his UFC contract and the Philadelphian hinted that it’s going to be a big one. The No. 3 ranked lightweight will meet with UFC president Dana White to negotiate a new deal.

“I have one fight left,” he said. “I’m going to sit down with the boss man. [Dana White] texted me on way home. We had a little bit of a conversation after the Justin Gaethje fight, and I think we’re gearing up to talk about a megafight. It shouldn’t be long, talk to Dana, get some things hashed out and do something big.”