We’ve said it before, but the best way to differentiate a true great from every other champion is by looking at how they handle a devastating loss.
Once you’ve reached the top of the mountain, any loss is devastating.
However, being finished in the second round after going on an immaculate run in the sport’s toughest promotion can be a slightly more bitter pill to swallow.
Regardless, the man who entered the Octagon with the belt in his corner that night took the defeat like a champion. When Conor McGregor was humbled by Nate Diaz at UFC 196, he didn’t make any excuses, he didn’t complain, he wasn’t bitter. To use his own vernacular, that would be an inefficient use of energy. Instead, he applauded the victor and let him enjoy his time in the sun while he quietly assessed how to come back.
If you thought that was building up to McGregor’s historical finish over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 to become a dual champion, well, that was sort of the point. There were a lot of similarities in how they both handled their toughest ever losses.
Taking the defeat like a champ https://t.co/HP2yvlKicO
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) December 31, 2016
UFC analyst Brian Stann summed it up perfectly in a heartfelt discussion with Alvarez on his Toe 2 Toe podcast. After all that trash-talk in the media events to sell the fight, it was incredibly big of Alvarez to be so classy after he was dethroned.
“One of the biggest things I took away from that, man, is it’s hard.”
The Underground King may have lost the fight and the belt, but the class he showed after McGregor had a belt on each shoulder in the centre of the Octagon showed that he was the hero of his own story. A lesser man would not have acted that way.
“It’s not easy to be classy when you’re really disappointed. Everybody knew that you were disappointed. There were no excuses, there was no B.S, you were super classy in defeat. I think there was a moment where your wife and all four of your children, they could look at that moment and potentially be even more prouder (sic) of you than they were when you won that belt, because that’s the harder thing to do.”
Stann closed off by making the very convincing argument about UFC 205’s main event. In his eyes, the loss and how Alvarez handled it was a prouder moment than when he knocked out Rafael dos Anjos to win that coveted golden strap.
He had never been more vulnerable before, and at that moment, the real Eddie Alvarez had nowhere to hide.
“Winning that belt, jumping up on the cage, putting your hands up in the air – that’s easy, right? But when you had to show the true… we saw the true Eddie Alvarez in that moment. We saw the man. When you die, your eulogy is being read, that’s the part that lives on more so than your win/loss record.”
Once a champ, always a champ.
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