Sam Alvey might not be winning his fights in the Octagon, but it seems he’s already won the battle for the hearts and minds of the UFC staff as despite his lengthy losing streak he’s revealed that he’s going to be given the opportunity to see out his contract in the promotion.
Alvey has now gone eight fights without a win, with his latest being a second round submission loss against Brendan Allen last month, which had left everyone assuming that his time in the UFC would now come to an end.
However, with only one fight left on his deal, the UFC staff have acknowledged their fondness for the 35-year-old ‘Smil’n’ Sam by keeping him on-board.
“We knew what they’re calling for, they’ve got to cut me,” Alvey told mmafighting.com. “There’d be no hard feelings toward them if they did. Honestly, I’ve been suspecting it coming for a while now because I haven’t won in a while. I’ve had a couple of really good fights that I’ve lost, and in a sport like this, you can’t lose.”
The phone call then took a twist he wasn’t expecting.
“You guys have been enjoyed by everyone that works for the UFC, Anytime you’re anywhere, every time we’ve had anything to do with you, you say yes to every fight, you go out, you fight your heart out,” Alvey says the UFC official told him. “‘You’ve taken some fights on short notice that you probably shouldn’t have, but you are always game, you’ve never said no. Then you show up and you’re happy to be there, you treat everyone well. We’ve decided that we’re going to let you fight out your contract.’
“I’m not cut! I get at least one more fight with the UFC. My contract is one more fight, the UFC didn’t cut me. … Me, I’m freaking out a little bit, trying to keep it together on the phone. ‘Thank you,’ I managed to sputter out. ‘Thank you.’”
Alvey’s long run without having his hand in the promotion isn’t completely unprecedented as it mirrors that of UFC legend BJ Penn, who also came out winless in his last eight Octagon outings, though he did get a majority draw against Jon Fitch at the start of that slump.
