Poker Pro On Upcoming MMA Fight: 'Got A Bit Hustled' On Weight AgreementJC Alvarado Talks About April Fight With Olivier Busquet |
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About a week ago, poker pros JC Alvarado and Olivier Busquet announced that they reached an agreement to a MMA fight in late April that will have a six-figure payday for one of the gamblers.
Alvarado, who has some formal fighting experience, will be risking $150,000, while Busquet has put up $120,000. For the fight, Busquet will weigh 187.5 pounds, while Alvarado has to come in at 165. They are about the same height, according to Alvarado.
The whole thing got started after Busquet Tweeted in late September that he was “looking for MMA training motivation” and “trying to gauge interest in a six-figure fight from anyone in the poker community.” A venue and some other specifics haven’t yet been hashed out.
Card Player caught up with Alvarado to find out more details about the fight.
Brian Pempus: Why did you accept this offer from Olivier?
JC Alvarado: I’ve been hunting for one of these fights for awhile now. When my fight with Andrew Robl fell through I felt very unsatisfied. I had been through so much and didn’t get to compete, so I was still hoping that at some point there would be another opportunity. When Olivier put out the offer, I immediately jumped on it.
BP: How long did you two discuss it before an agreement was reached?
JA: We discussed it so long, that it came to a point where I wasn’t sure if his tweet was a part of an elaborate attempt to troll the poker community since this was not too long after the Doc Sands vs. Doug Polk thing (that was clearly never going to happen). I think somewhere between three and four weeks total.
BP: What kind of side action do you anticipate being wagered on this fight? Why do you think members of the poker community seem to want to bet on this?
JA: I don’t know, I assume some big action will be placed closer to fight week. Obviously a lot of people want to bet on it because we’re a community of gamblers.
BP: Why six months to train? Was there any negotiating on this?
JA: Olivier wanted to do this to motivate himself to train. He views this as a six-month project. Six months was fine by me.
BP: How will training for this fight fit in with your poker schedule?
JA: Currently my poker schedule is getting very much in the way of my training. I made a deep run in the World Series of Poker Europe which didn’t allow much time to train, but I did train a bit before I played each day, despite being sick with a bad cough. When I got to Malta that combination of poker stress, training stress, and lack of sleep made everything way worse and now I’ve been laying in bed sweating out a nasty fever. It’s really going to hinder my first few weeks of serious training. I plan on balancing poker and training way better when I’m at home and cutting down on the amount of traveling I’ll be doing.
BP: Why are you giving Olivier odds? Why those odds?
JA: I’m giving him odds because I’ve been training for a while and he never has. I think my experience gives me a slight edge coming into this.
BP: Can you talk about the weight difference?
JA: The weight difference is a huge factor, and the one thing where I feel I got a bit hustled. I think it would be fair to meet somewhere down the middle, but in the end I just accepted his terms to get it over with. I don’t care about how much EV I lose, I just want to get in a fight.
BP: What’s the height difference between you two and can you talk about why that matters (or might not matter)? What about reach advantage?
JA: Height difference will matter but we seem to be of similar height. Reach is unknown so far.
BP: What kind of fighting experience do you have?
JA: I have been training martial arts sporadically my whole life. Taekwondo when I was like 4-7 years old, judo for a year or so in high school, then about four years ago I decided to start training jiu jitsu and boxing. Unfortunately poker often gets in the way and I end up not seeing the fight gym for 5-6 month stretches sometimes, so I haven’t gotten very far.
BP: Are there “bragging rights” on the line here too?
JA: I don’t know what “bragging rights” mean. This isn’t a game of pool. It’s a fight. It’s about dignity and courage and not getting the shit beat out of you. I’m a lot more worried about getting my head knocked off than whatever bragging he’ll do after the fight is done.
BP: Is there any chance of a buy-out from either of you?
JA: There’s always a chance. I will never on my own will back out of this, but anyone can get injured in training. If my coach or my doctor tell me that they can’t let me fight, I’ll listen.
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