It\u2019s tough for Sam Alvey to remember the last time he was favored to win a fight, especially with so many people on the internet screaming that he\u2019s destined to lose.<\/p>\n
After his UFC career came to a close with an 0-8-1 record in his final nine fights, the former Ultimate Fighter competitor never contemplated retirement but he understood he was going to have an uphill battle on his hands to prove he was still a viable challenge for opponents in combat sports. Alvey scored a win in his next MMA fight but then he was signed to Karate Combat where he completely rejuvenated his career.<\/p>\n
He scored three straight wins \u2014 not counting a no-contest that ended his third appearance in the promotion \u2014 and then got matched up with Tyrone Spong, who is widely regarded as one of the most vicious kickboxers of all time. Alvey heard over and over again that he had no chance to touch Spong much less beat him but that\u2019s exactly what he did after delivering a second-round knockout to retain his Karate Combat heavyweight title.<\/p>\n
The same narrative is building up again as Alvey prepares to faces 6-foot-7 monster Robelis Despaigne on Friday as the Cuban born knockout artist looks to build on his perfect 6-0 record in Karate Combat including four knockouts with a combined time of 44 seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey keep giving me fights where I should be the underdog!\u201d Alvey told MMA Fighting. \u201cAgainst Ross Levine, the most dominant middleweight they\u2019ve ever had. Against Antonio Arroyo, who looked like he was built out of stone and then I had Tyrone Spong, arguably you could say he\u2019s the best kickboxer who ever lived. The only people you would argue with are in his corner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re trying to do it to me. Hey, I am proving myself to be the greatest karateka to ever live. They\u2019re just making sure I prove it every fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a strange way, Alvey loves that he\u2019s always counted out because it just makes winning feel that much better. Facing and then conquering insurmountable odds has kind of become his stock and trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love it. It is so much fun,\u201d Alvey said. \u201cEven in my UFC career, I heard that more often than not. When I fought Cezar Mutante, he was the next big thing, the next Vitor [Belfort] and I put him down in three minutes. The amount of respect you get afterwards, it\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s so much fun going in there and beating these guys on paper who should win or everyone on the internet thinks is going to win. It\u2019s just a lot of fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I only have so many fights in me and I hope I fight for another 10 years but your body\u2019s going to give our because time always wins. This is that fight where I\u2019ll be able to say, yeah, I did this. I\u2019ll be able to show the weigh-in picture, I\u2019ll be able to show [how much bigger he was]. I\u2019ll be able to brag about this, I\u2019ll be able to admire this for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alvey admits he\u2019s never fought someone as tall as Despaigne but he definitely understands how to attack that kind of opponent.<\/p>\n
On fight night, Despaigne will certainly tower over Alvey but he has no problem swinging up to get the knockout or perhaps just chopping down the tree and then delivering the finishing blow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem with tall guys is they fight like they\u2019re tall,\u201d Alvey explained. \u201cThey don\u2019t leave their hands up as much because that extra height, that extra four inches, five inches, takes him out of range for most punches. So I have to time his attacks. I have to time when I can attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I connect, I know how hard I hit. I\u2019ve got a lot more knockouts than Dan Henderson! I\u2019ve just got to find a way to connect and sometimes knocking him down, hitting him in the belly, making him bend over, feints, little things like that can adjust his posture and give me a better shot at that chin.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Despaigne first joined the UFC roster back in 2024, he already had a lot of hype built around him because his first four professional fights all ended in brutal first round knockouts. He then scored a similar finish in his octagon debut but then Despaigne found out the hard way how the other half lives with his next two fights ending in ugly decision losses.<\/p>\n
He was then released from his contract.<\/p>\n
Now Despaigne has rebuilt that ferocious reputation with his performances in Karate Combat, but Alvey understands that beating him probably reignites the same old criticisms that he was never that great to begin with.<\/p>\n
\u201cI beat Tyrone Spong and immediately people said \u2018well Tyrone Spong is old!\u2019\u201d Alvey said. \u201cDude\u2019s younger than me! If he would have fought Tyrone Spong in his prime! I\u2019m the same age! I\u2019ll get this win and it will look real cool but on paper I\u2019ll be able to tell people I beat a guy who was 285 pounds and I didn\u2019t just beat him, I put him down. That\u2019s the goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a legacy kind of fight. When I\u2019m old and grey and talking to my great-grandchildren, I\u2019ll be able to tell them I beat Goliath. I literally beat a Goliath. I beat a man who is five or six inches taller than me with a reach that is 10 inches longer than mine. It\u2019s crazy how long this man is. But they can say what they want but they\u2019ll never be able to take away how much bigger he is going to be than me \u2026 big tree, fall hard, I\u2019ll make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s tough for Sam Alvey to remember the last time he was favored to win a fight, especially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-324946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}