Eddie Alvarez explains why Justin Gaethje would be a ‘terrible’ matchup for Michael Chandler

Eddie Alvarez has gone to war on numerous occasions throughout his legendary career. It now looks like two of his most notable opponents could square off next.

Both of Alvarez’s encounters with fellow former Bellator lightweight king Michael Chandler were instant classics. The same can be said for his UFC 218 bout against Justin Gaethje. Now that both have suffered losses in their most recent title opportunities, UFC President Dana White seemingly still likes the idea of matching the two together.

“I think Gaethje is a terrible match-up for him,” Alvarez said of Chandler to The Sun. “And I think he should probably stay away from Gaethje. That’s not a good match-up for him. But we’ll see, man. It’s really up to him and his desire. We’ll only know on fight night.”

Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler first fought in November 2011 in what wound up being one of the greatest fights of all time. Additionally, for the young undefeated challenger in Chandler, it was the night that he earned his first world title by submitting “The Underground King” with a fourth-round rear-naked choke.

The lightweight standouts would meet again two years later at Bellator 106. Alvarez avenged his defeat via a split decision and made his way out of the promotion as the titleholder.

A fight removed from dropping the UFC title in 2016 and Alvarez took on the former World Series of Fighting champion in Gaethje. The end result saw a fight of the year contender that culminated with Alvarez getting his hand raised via third-round knockout via knee.

The loss was Gaethje’s first of his career as he dropped his second in a row to Dustin Poirier afterward. Since then he’s been nearly perfect with four TKOs and one loss to the former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.