Eddie Alvarez offers play-by-play of vicious knockout over Justin Gaethje at UFC 218

Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez just scored one of the best finishes of the year in one of the best fights you’ll ever see when he knocked out Justin Gaethje at UFC 218 earlier this month (highlights here).

After two back-and-forth rounds that saw each lightweight absorb a ridiculous amount of damage, Alvarez began to pull away in the third frame. His efforts concluded with a vicious knee that toppled Gaethje and handed the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) champion his first professional loss.

While fight fans enjoyed the Octagon melee from the comfort of their own homes, “Underground King” witnessed Gaethje’s downfall first hand. Here is how Alvarez remembered his knockout win over “Highlight” in a recent Instagram live video:

When the knee connected, for sure I didn’t want to hit [Justin Gaethje] anymore. It landed super clean. No need to do anymore but I put my hands up and then Herb [Dean] just wanted me to continue, so I continued but for sure I didn’t want to continue. That was a super, super hard knee. But you really can’t give a guy like Justin Gaethhe a split second because he’s the type of dude that he’ll recover within like a quarter second, then you’ll be in a whole ‘nother fight again. That’s the kind of animal Justin Gaethje is. So, for sure if you hit him hard you gotta’ blast him and finish because it ain’t gonna’ be long before he’s in your face again trying to kill you.”

Now that Alvarez has locked down one of the most impressive, gritty, and memorable performances of his storied career, the UFC champion is looking for a contract extension and mega fight. Considering Alvarez fights like this every time he steps foot inside of the Octagon it’s safe to assume the promotion is going to do everything in its power to satisfy his needs.

At this point in time, it makes a whole lot of sense to pit Alvarez against streaking contender Dustin Poirier in a rematch from their meeting back at UFC 211, which ended in a no contest. If UFC decides to go a different route and give Alvarez a more high-profile opponent, the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Edson Barboza later this month would suffice.