Eddie Alvarez and Gilbert Melendez have talked plenty about each other over the past four years.

Before, they did it from afar. Alvarez (25-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC), a former Bellator MMA lightweight champ, talked up a cross-promotional fight with Melendez (22-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC), a Strikeforce titleholder. It was an intriguing matchup to fans, and the fighters were willing. But, like so many great ideas in MMA, follow through was absent.

Now, there’s no more gap to negotiate. Both are UFC fighters, and the talk will become reality Saturday when they co-headline UFC 188’s pay-per-view main card at Mexico City Arena in Mexico. Maybe that’s why they had little to say on a press tour in support of card.

Of course, there are varying theories from the fighters.

Melendez, who earlier this year called to fight Alvarez at UFC 188, said there were “a couple awkward moments” when they faced off for photographers. After so many years of talking about each other, he recently told MMAjunkie Radio, some tension was in the air.

“I think he’s the kind of guy that if he says something, he knows I’m going to come after him,” he said. “And if I say something, it’d probably just be on from there.”

But to Alvarez, it was just another day. He said Melendez is filled with so many empty words.

“There wasn’t any tension,” he told MMAjunkie. “He didn’t say sh-t. He told the media that if he was in a room with me, he was going to say something or do something. He didn’t do sh-t. I looked him right in his face, and he didn’t so sh-t to me. And when I see him again, he won’t say sh-t to me.”

Alvarez, though, is clearly irked at Melendez, particularly when it relates to their history and a fight between them. The way he sees it, the ex-Strikeforce champ has avoided him because he’s been more concerned with his career than being the toughest guy out there.

“I never heard from Gilbert,” Alvarez said. “The only time I heard from Gilbert is when I did really good. So like, if I won a world title or defended a world title, then like a week later Gibert would say something to the media about how he wanted to fight me. He just made sure he would mention me so he could fill a headline.”

But since they’ve been booked, it’s been Alvarez dropping the clickbait. Earlier this year, he dropped a stink-bomb on his upcoming opponent, comparing him on Twitter to “a high school cheerleader, always trying to suck off the quarterback.”

Melendez noticed that one (though it now appears to be deleted). Still, he’s downplayed a rivalry between the two, casting Alvarez as an overly sensitive personality who’s taken offense where there was none.

“I’ve always just wanted to fight him, and I’ve always just wanted to fight him and thought he was a good fighter,” Melendez said. “He’s taken it as some insults, and he’s badmouthed me here, and I just don’t like him because he’s badmouthed me. But I have nothing bad to say about him.”

Alvarez can’t say the same, and he’s sure he isn’t alone. Asked about Melendez’s potential status as the crowd favorite, he scoffed at the idea he would be booed when he walked to the cage.

“When I went on the press tour and started questioning the media and people that I spoke to about Gilbert, even the Mexicans there, they called him a fake Mexican,” Alvarez said. “He’s not from Mexico. He’s an American, and he just happens to be Mexican.”

However they got here, it’s no secret Alvarez and Melendez meet at a critical juncture. Melendez this past December lost his second bid for the UFC lightweight belt, and Alvarez was battered by current No. 1 contender Donald Cerrone in his long-awaited octagon debut this past September.

Battling back to title contention will be no easy road for either of them in a crowded division. Alvarez, though, is done talking about his setbacks and can’t wait to get his hands on Melendez.

The way they came together isn’t important; the result in the cage is.

“I’m old enough to understand the sport and what it’s about,” he said. “Do I hate anybody I fight? No. I don’t know any of these people personally, so for me to say I hate him, I’d be full of sh-t. But he just sort of rubbed me the wrong way for the sh-t he did in the past, and I’m just glad I get to fight him now.”

For Melendez, the feeling is mutual.

“Obviously, we’re not going to be best friends, and I’m looking forward to punching a guy who I really don’t like his attitude too much,” he said. “That’s as far as it goes, or as far as I let it go.”

For more on UFC 188, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.