DALLAS, TX - MAY 13: Eddie Alvarez walks to his corner after an illegal knee Dustin Poirier in their lightweight fight during the UFC 211 event at the American Airlines Center on May 13, 2017 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

The former lightweight champion opens up about his lengthy marriage to the fight game, joining The Iron Army and appreciating everything he’s accomplished in his career.

Eddie Alvarez sees his fight with Dustin Poirier in very simple terms, viewing it as nothing more than a difference of opinion, not unlike two people with opposing views on politics or religion.

The difference, of course, is that while friends and neighbors and complete strangers can bicker back-and-forth about any number of divisive topics without ever really resolving their issues and settling their debates, he and Poirier will step into the Octagon on Saturday night in Calgary and by the time the smoke clears, there will be no room to debate which one of them was right and which one of them was wrong.

“He has a belief that he can beat me in a fight and my belief is the opposite,” Alvarez said in advance of his rematch with Poirier this weekend. “Luckily, we get to figure out the truth on the 28th and that’s the cool thing about this sport – he has a strong belief and I have a strong belief, but there won’t be any gray area after the 28th.”

The reason these two are squaring off for a second time in a little more than a year is because their first encounter produced a result that was as clear as mud.

Paired off at UFC 211 in Dallas, the opening round was largely a feeling out process, but the second round turned into a firefight, with both men throwing heavy leather as time ticked off the clock. Late in the frame, they exchanged big shots and Alvarez pressed in for a takedown along the fence. As Poirier stood, Alvarez hit him with a knee to the head, following up with a second blow that landed flush.

Poirier collapsed and referee Herb Dean jumped in, immediately indicating that the second blow was illegal and calling time. Poirier’s face was a mess and Alvarez was clearly unhappy, disappointed that the fight couldn’t continue and the result would go down as a No Contest.

The American Top Team product immediately lobbied for a rematch, but Alvarez wasn’t particularly keen and both men had differing ideas about who was on the verge of beating whom. They went their separate ways, but with the tension between the two never fully resolved, a rematch always seemed obvious.

“He has a belief that he can beat me in a fight and my belief is the opposite. Luckily, we get to figure out the truth on the 28th.”

With the championship picture cloudy and both coming off massive stoppage wins over Justin Gaethje, the timing was right to pair them off for a second time and now the talented lightweight contenders will settle their differences this weekend at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

While the aftermath of their first encounter was quite heated and they’ve passive aggressively poked at each other on social media many times since, the animosity between the two seems to have died down as Saturday draws nearly and though he says he doesn’t need their to be friction between he and his opponent in order to get locked in before fight night, Alvarez admits he enjoys the squabbling and just might stir things up again this week if he’s feeling frisky.

“I’m up for anything,” laughed the former lightweight champion, who believes their meeting at UFC 211 was Poirier’s best chance to beat him. “I think when we get out there, emotions run high, but at the end of the day, this is business for me. I’ve been fighting long enough that I know how to separate myself emotionally from all of this.

“I don’t need animosity to fight anyone. If anything, I think it makes it fun and I’m all for fun, so if it heats back up, I’m all for and if it don’t, maybe I’ll start something.”

Although he’s very much game for a laugh during fight week, Alvarez takes his craft extremely seriously and has made a point to surround himself with likeminded people chasing the same goals and dreams.

After a few years training under Henri Hooft as a member of the Blackzilians, the Philadelphia native returned home and joined forces with Mark Henry, Ricardo Almeida and the Iron Army, a group he’d trained with in the past without ever officially joining the squad.

“I think it was super-important to get back to my roots, get back home to where I’m comfortable and I get to see my family every day and the guys I kind of started with,” he said of his decision to move home and connect with the New Jersey-based crew. “Although Mark was never officially my coach and Ricardo Almeida was never officially my coach back in the day, I’ve always trained with them and I’ve always trusted in them and believed in what they did.

“When I came back and me and Frankie were no longer on this track of maybe butting heads – that was no longer the elephant in the room – it was an easy decision to make. I always liked these guys and I always trusted that they were the best minds in fighting and I was lucky enough to hop back home and have them welcome me with open arms.”

Over the last several years, the team has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success at the highest level and in recent months, things in the gym have been humming and the positive results have been pouring in for members of the team.

As he readies to face Poirier on Saturday, Alvarez is bolstered by the positive energy coursing through the gym and the championship potential that exists within the team.

“Winning is infectious, so when you have me, Marlon Moraes, Sarj (Sijara Eubanks) and Katlyn (Chookagian) – you’re talking four people who are possibly fighting for a world title this year,” said Alvarez. “That’s one small team with four people that may be fighting for a world title this year.

“It’s easy to get emotional about something when you see how real it is; how close it is to being in your grips,” he added. “When you see a teammate who solidifies himself as a world champion or gets the opportunity to fight for a world title, you know that’s a very real thing and it’s within your grasp and it charges you up.

“It gets you even more emotional about the idea of it and it takes your training to another level. You want to beat your best times and be your best self. That’s what’s going on with everybody within our camp.”

The 34-year-old has also become more reflective in recent years, acknowledging the mistakes of his youth and developing a deeper appreciation for everything he’s accomplished during nearly a decade spent as one of the top lightweights in the world.

“When you see a teammate who solidifies himself as a world champion or gets the opportunity to fight for a world title, you know that’s a very real thing and it’s within your grasp and it charges you up.”

“I love this game,” said Alvarez, who made his professional debut at Ring of Combat 5 in December 2003 and has spent the last 10 years at or near the top of the 155-pound weight class in Dream, Bellator and now the UFC.

“I’ve been dedicated to this game forever – loyal, committed. I got married to it a while ago and I stayed a loyal, committed husband to the game of fighting, so all the benefits, all the success, any title or accolades that I’ve ever earned has just been a byproduct of my commitment and dedication to the sport.

“I’m super-grateful and lucky to be able to compete at such a high level for such a long time and that never leaves me,” he added. “I never take that for granted. I’m going to continue to do good and do even better because I feel more grateful than ever now.

“When I was winning world titles when I was younger, I never really stopped and smelled the roses; I just said, ‘That’s what I’m supposed to do.’ I’m training every day, busting my ass – I’m supposed to win world titles,” he admitted. “I didn’t realize the magnitude of some of the fights I was in or the things I was doing.

“Every once in a while, I look back and it’s like, ‘Holy ****, man – you did really good!’ Then I see bad stories about guys that busted their ass and never got an opportunity, so the older I get, the more I’m understanding how grateful I am and when I feel more grateful, it makes me work even harder for what I’ve got.”

Grateful, focused and motivated by the elite cast of characters he trains with on a daily basis, it sounds like Alvarez is poised to present some convincing arguments in the debate over who is the better man between him and Poirier on Saturday night in Calgary.

Get your popcorn ready because you’re not going to want to miss this one.