Vicente Luque says welterweight will be a rude awakening for Joel Alvarez.
With Santiago Ponzinibbio out, Alvarez (22-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) will be stepping in to face Luque (23-11-1 MMA, 16-7 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 261 (ESPN+) main card at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
Alvarez has never competed at 170 pounds, and Luque expects that to make a difference.
“Joel is a very talented guy, very talented striker. He also has a lot of submissions,” Luque told UFC News. “I would say (he’s) even similar to my style. I can submit you, but I can knock you out. I’m a striker predominantly, but my ground game is always dangerous. I think Joel is a guy like that, an up-and-comer starting, and I think that’s what makes this fight exciting – my style against his style, an up-and-comer against a veteran. We have all the ingredients to make one of the best fights of the night.
“The big thing is, he’s moving up. The power is different. Here at 170, we carry a different level of power. Let’s see if he can adapt to that. He definitely has the height to deal with it because he’s a very tall guy. It surprises me that he makes 155, but yeah, it’s going to be good. I’m excited. I like fights like this that really are going to have me bringing my ‘A’ game in there.”
Alvarez boasts a 100 percent finish rate, whereas Luque has nine UFC bonuses to his name. The Brazilian fighter says expect fireworks as he looks to use the boost from his hometown crowd.
“I’m going in there to get a big finish,” Luque said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be a submission or a knockout. I think it’s going to be a knockout, I just feel it. The way I’ve been training, the hunger I have here in Brazil. I see a knockout coming, but we’ll see. I’m going to be pushing for a finish. If I see a submission, I will definitely jump for it, as well.”
