JC Alvarado and Olivier Busquet have agreed to a Mixed Martial Arts fight to be held in April as Busquet looks to forge a new identity for himself after recently going some tough personal times.
JC Alvarado and Olivier Busquet will duke it out in a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight sometime in April.
Speaking with husng.com, Busquet decided to go looking for a scrap because he needs the motivation to learn how to fight, is trying to get into peak shape, is chasing an improvement in his discipline and would like to use the match as an opportunity to ‘forge a new identity’ after his recent divorce.
Alvarado just wants to fight, because he likes to fight.
It’s not the first time that Alvarado has appeared on a fight card alongside another poker player. Two years ago, he was supposed to fight Andrew Robl with a $34,000 purse on the line, but unless they are both members of the Tyler Durden fraternity, I am not sure that it went ahead.
Given the size of the proposed purse for the Alvarado v Busquet fight, this one could go all the way. There may be one slight problem. Alvarado has agreed to hand Busquet $150,000 if he loses, and Busquet has agreed to pass $120,000 the other way, but the Mexican is currently sitting third in chips at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event with seven remaining. He has locked up €100,000, should he take the top prize of €883,000 will we see dwindling motivation to exchange blood?
Talk of a proposed fight begun in late September when Busquet sent out the following tweet searching for an opponent.
Looking for MMA training motivation – trying to gauge interest in 6 figure fight from anyone in poker community…..
— Olivier Busquet (@olivierbusquet) September 23, 2015
According to the interview mentioned above, Alvarado was the quickest person to respond, and so it seems negotiations with other poker players didn’t come to fruition. Alvarado seems excited by the whole thing.
Big news: @olivierbusquet and I have agreed to an MMA fight. My 150k to his 120k, he weighs in at 187.5, I weigh in at 165. #letsdothis — JC Alvarado (@JCAlvarado1) October 17, 2015
Poker’s resident MMA expert, Terrence Chan – who recently wanted to put an ankle lock on WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel – believes Alvarado is the favourite but did call Busquet ‘a beast’. Alvarado weighs in at 165 pounds with Busquet weighing 187.5. However, Alvarado has fighting experience on his side.
It won’t be the first time that two poker players have squared off with blood on the line.
In 2009, Theo Jorgensen knocked the proverbial ten bells out of Gus Hansen in a boxing match, earning a $35,000 purse, and in 2011 Lex Veldhuis kicked Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier’s head into 2020 during a kickboxing match in Marbella, Spain.
David Sands and Doug Polk also looked like they would get it on, but Twitter negotiations broke down between the pair over a proposed half a million-dollar purse.
Speaking on Twitter, Chan believes the $150/$120k purse that has been offered up for the Alvarado v Busquet fight is larger than most people fight for in professional MMA and UFC.
Winner will make more money from this fight than all but a small handful of UFC champions. https://t.co/QSIvBL3ksZ
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) October 17, 2015
The venue remains a mystery.
