This December 2, when the UFC touches down in Detroit, Michigan with UFC 218, former UFC and Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez will battle former World Series of Fighting champ Justin Gaethje in a clear Fight of the Year contender. While it’s undeniable that the UFC put this fight together based on its entertainment value, Alvarez also feels that this fight is an attempt to boost Gaethje’s name – at his own expense.

“When UFC wants something, they get it, you know what I mean?” Alvarez said in a recent episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast (via MMAMania.com). “If they want you to fight, you’re going to fight [who they] want you to fight. There is not much of a negotiation going on there, especially with me.”

“I am pretty easy going,” he added. “I’m not the type of guy that’s like, I want this guy, I want that guy. I don’t think UFC wanted that (Poirier) fight, they liked Justin Gaethje, they want to move him and they want to use my name to move him. But guess what? I have other intentions, know what I mean? I get the game, I know how it works and I have been on the other side of it as a young kid coming up, so I see what they want to do, and that’s the fun part of this.”

In his last fight, Eddie Alvarez battled Dustin Poirier to a thrilling but ultimately disappointing no contest. In his next most recent fight, he lost the UFC lightweight title to the current champion Conor McGregor.

Gaethje, meanwhile, recently debuted in the Octagon with an action-packed TKO win over Michael Johnson.

Who do you think wins this UFC 218 battle between Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/1/2017.