UFC Fight Night 100's Warlley Alves says first loss 'woke up a side of me that I didn't know I had'

RIO DE JANEIRO – When he last entered the octagon, backed by “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3” crown and praises as one of the country’s sharpest up-and-comers, Warlley Alves was undefeated.

That’s not how he left it, though.

Now, scheduled to return over six months since Bryan Barberena tarnished his spotless record, Alves has learned a few things about himself in the process – including that he hated the feeling way too much to ever go through it again.

“I never got really got along with defeat,” Alves told reporters during an official media day in Rio de Janeiro. “I always had the philosophy that defeat is like an accident. You leave home to go to work on a regular day, and if the car crashes or you get run over, it’s unexpected. I wasn’t expecting to lose the way I did. I wasn’t knocked out, I wasn’t submitted.

“Barberena deserves the credit, he really won, I have no way of arguing that. But it really got to me. It woke up a side of me that I didn’t know I had. And I’m going to give it my all to make sure it never happens to me again. I’ve never in my life trained as much as I’m training to fight this guy.”

“This guy,” of course, is Kamaru Usman, who, yet to lose in his three-fight octagon career, comes in on the heels of a display over Alexander Yakovlev so dominant that it earned him two 30-25 scores. They square off on the FS1-televised main portion of Nov. 19’s UFC Fight Night 100 at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo.

Even though the 170-pounders share “The Ultimate Fighter” heritage – with both having come out victorious of their respective seasons – Alves (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) believes that the similarities with Usman (8-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) end there.

“Kamaru is a very tough guy,” Alves said. “He’s an All-American. His game is very different than mine. He likes to clinch all the time, and I’m not like that – I will break away and lay my hands on him. I like hitting people. This clinging thing is not my style. We’re going to brawl. I know he’s training hard for it, and I’m training hard for it, and God will give the win to the most deserving one – and I’m telling you, I’m training very hard.

“When I was a kid, which was not that long ago, I watched PRIDE, and I always liked to watch brawls. I don’t like conservative fights, I like the brawl because that’s what I grew up watching. And I think it’s very unfair for a fan to pay for a ticket to see two people groping each other. I want to give it my best in there and a show to those who are watching.”

And it’s not just his focus that has been renewed since Alves’ first career loss. While some fighters can’t wait to return to the cage to bounce back from negative outcomes, he took some time to address a few issues in quite different areas of his training.

Apart from surgery to fix a deviated septum, the welterweight decided to take extra care of his mental game.

“I’ve always looked to give it my best at my job, but I didn’t know I had more to give,” Alves said. “Now, at training, I’m putting in a lot more, and looking to evolve a lot more than I had been.

“I also looked for some psychological help, psychoanalysis, and it’s been helping out a lot. If an area of your life is out of balance, nothing goes right. When all aspects of your life are in balance, your work flows better. I needed that assistance – someone to talk to, things that sometimes a friend can’t say quite as well as someone who works with that and specializes on it.”

Staying level-headed, Alves said, has been a concern since his first MMA steps – when X-Gym coach Rogerio Camoes first saw the then-19-year-old’s potential. Six years later, the welterweight has accomplished a few of his goals but believes that staying grounded is key to making his remaining dreams – including the UFC’s 170-pound crown – happen.

“Last time I fought in Sao Paulo, I became ‘TUF’ champion,” Alves said. “My life changed then and there. After that, I managed to have an apartment, a car, a structure that allows me to worry only about training. I don’t have to worry about the bills – I’m no millionaire, but I don’t need to work in order to train. My job is training. My punch card is at X-Gym. I walk in there and train to give it my best in the octagon.

“What (my coaches) always said was, ‘Keep your feet on the ground.’ I won ‘TUF’ and, a week after that, I made it a point to hide that feeling from myself. Because I knew there was still a lot of work to do. I’m very ambitious. I will be UFC champion. I will have the belt. I know that God has that in store for me. I know that what’s mine is there. What I need to do is work, and that’s my focus.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 100, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.