JC Alvarado Talks About Accepting Olivier Busquet's MMA Challenge
When Olivier Busquet took to Twitter looking for a six-figure MMA-style fight – which he hoped to use as training motivation – JC Alvarado answered the call. Given the latter's kickboxing experience, and the former's current lack of fighting proficiency, the two agreed on a bet that will see Busquet put up $120,000 to Alvarado's $150,000, meaning they are essentially fighting for $270,000
While Busuqet hasn't been spotted here at the EPT12 Malta, Alvarado played and survived Day 1a of the Main Event, which is when Sarah Herring caught up with him to talk about the fight.
"We have to figure out the venue, the judges, and the ref," Alvarado recently told PokerNews. "He wanted six months to change, so we're shooting right before Monaco, SCOOP, and WSOP, which is like a busy period. Before that there's kind of nothing going on. We figured we'd train six months and then fight right around the end of April."
While the specifics have yet to be determined, Alvarado said the duo have agreed to a best of five-round fight (Busquet's idea), of 4-5 minutes each.
"I think most people are kind of thinking I'm like some badass MMA fight, which I'm not," said Alvarado. "I've been training for a while, but it's been so sporadic that I teeter between barely making it to blue belt level in jujitsu and then not train six months and go back to being white belt level. I'm not that good. Who knows how athletic Olivier is."
The fight has garnered quite a bit of attention in the poker world with several players, including Jason Mo and Martin Jacobson, looking to bet on the fight. While neither Busquet, who cites his recent divorce as a motivating factor for the fight, nor Alvarado plan to take side action on the match, side bets are sure to abound between other players.
The fight is schedule to take place in April 2016, giving both competitors a solid six months to train. At the time of the fight, Alvarado must weigh in at 165 lbs., while Busquet will need to come in at 187.5 lbs.
The Busquet vs. Alvarado bout follows in the footsteps of the famed 2011 "Elky vs. RaSZi" match, which saw Lex Veldhuis defeat Bertrand Grospellier. As experienced poker-player-turned-MMA-fighter Terrence Chan pointed out, with a $150,000 top prize, the winner of the latest match is slated to take home more than the winners of most UFC bouts.
"Then there's the fact that if I do get head-kicked KO'ed like ElkY did, I have to show up to poker tournaments and be that guy forever," Alvarado admitted. "That's another factor that's in the back of your head the whole time."
Watch Alvarado's full interview from the EPT12 Malta below: