“He reminds me of myself” - Eddie Alvarez takes his hat off to Mike Perry in emotional statement following brutal BKFC loss

Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez's foray into bare-knuckle boxing suffered it's first major setback against the in-form Mike Perry this past weekend.

An ex-UFC veteran himself, Perry has been clinical in his four outings under the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship banner. He added to his list of impressive performances in the main event of BKFC 56 on December 2.

Alvarez spoke after his second-round corner stoppage loss to 'Platinum' and said that he was reminded of himself and his fighting style. He graciously admitted that Mike Perry was the better man on the night:

“I was surprised. In sparring I land these shots on the bigger guys and I don’t know if I hurt my opponents pretty good, but with a bare fist I thought for sure Mike would go down. He didn’t. My hat’s off to Mike Perry. The guy’s a f*****g battle axe. He can take a shot, he can keep plodding forward and give them. He reminds me of myself a lot, so I was fighting a little mirror of myself in there tonight and Mike was the better man. Look, I take my wins, I’ll take my losses the same way – with my head high.”

Alvarez also explained his decision to challenge himself and move up a weight class:

“Tonight I dared to be great. I went up a weight class with Mike. I did, I really dared to be great, and I thought, with everything in me, I can beat a bigger guy, given my skill set, given his style. I’m not going back on anything. I thought I could beat Mike Perry tonight, bigger or not, and I didn’t. I came up short. And hey, this f*****g sport, bro, that’s why I love it.”

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Eddie Alvarez welcomes the idea of a rematch with Mike Perry

Eddie Alvarez made his BKFC debut earlier this year against Chad Mendes at BKFC 41. Making his first appearance as a welterweight, 'The Underground King' won the fight via split decision.

Following Saturday's event, BKFC founder David Feldman mentioned a rematch between Perry and Alvarez as a potential fight in the latter's native city of Philadelphia.

'The Underground King' was very excited by the prospect of a rematch.:

“Oh man, that’d be a beautiful motherf*****g thing, I’ll tell you that. Hey, hey, one more time, Mikey, please. Give it to me. You come to north Philly, you do me that favor, big dog.”

Check out Eddie Alvarez's full comments in the press conference below [28:38 onwards]: