RIO DE JANEIRO — Vicente Luque has never been such a betting underdog in his entire UFC career like he is now ahead of UFC Rio, when he faces short-notice replacement Joel Alvarez, and he has a hard time understanding the lines.
Luque, who was originally slated to meet Santiago Ponzinibbio on the Oct. 11 event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has beaten former and future champions in Rafael dos Anjos, Tyron Woodley and Bella Muhammad throughout his 16-7 run in the UFC. The recent loss to Kevin Holland dropped
him to 2-4 in his past six outings, though.
Alvarez, on the other hand, makes the move to welterweight after having a hard time making 155 pounds in the past. The Spanish talent won seven of nine in the UFC with a 100-percent finish rate, stopping Marc Diakiese, Elves Brenner and Drakkar Klose in most recent appearances.
“It’s hard to say what the fans and what everybody at home expects,” Luque told MMA Fighting during the UFC Rio media day. “That’s not really what I think about too much. I know what I’ve been doing, I know what I plan to do that night. If everybody thinks I’m the underdog, I’m gonna have to go out there and surprise them.”
Fighting in Rio de Janeiro for the first time boosts his confidence and spirit, and being counted out can work as extra fuel.
“I’m not trying to shut anybody up, but I’m definitely there do to what I’m gonna do,” Luque said. “Anything that you put against me is gonna be motivation, an extra fire to go out there and do what I do. Regardless, I want to win, I wanna go out there and have fun that night. I wanna go out there and do what I do. If guys are gonna think I cannot do it and they wanna put that challenge on, even better. I got more fire to go out there and do what I do as best as I can.”
Alvarez’s only two UFC defeats came against Arman Tsarukyan and Damir Ismagulov at lightweight, and Luque said “he deserves the hype he gets”.
“He’s had great fights and he has finished a lot of them — if not all of them,” Luque said. “He has fought really good fight. There are guys that have much less fights and have much more hype than that. I think that he backs up his hype. That’s exactly one thing that excites me. I’m stepping in there against a guy that’s hungry, against a guy that a lot of people see as a prospect, and I can profit from that as well.”
Luque competed three times in South America since joining the UFC. At UFC Montevideo, he won a “Fight of the Night” bonus-winning split decision over Mike Perry. On Brazilian soil, Luque scored stoppages against Niko Price and Hector Urbina. He was forced to make some changes after Alvarez stepped in for Ponzinibbio, but feels ready to get the job done inside the distance.
“Joel is much taller opponent. Although he’s a 155er, he’s a very tall 170 guy,” Luque said. “And he’s a striker more boxing oriented. But all these things were things I had three weeks to change to make sure I adjusted. At Kill Cliff I have so much talent to help me with that, so I had guys that could emulate that style and get me ready for this. I’m confident that even with the exchange, nothing has really been a problem for me in this training camp. I’m in great shape, physically, mentally, and very motivated for this fight.”
“I definitely envision myself with a finish,” he added. “I’ve been working hard. My style favors a finish, being knockout or submission, so I do see it.”
