Eddie Alvarez out to prove he's more than just Conor McGregor's opponent at UFC 205

— -- NEW YORK -- There is a case to be made that Eddie Alvarez is the greatest lightweight in mixed martial arts history.

Within the last 18 months alone, Alvarez has defeated a former Strikeforce champion ( Gilbert Melendez), former WEC champion ( Anthony Pettis) and current UFC champion ( Rafael dos Anjos).

When he left Bellator MMA two years ago, Alvarez vacated the promotion's lightweight title. In 2012, he knocked out then-DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki in a nontitle fight.

"As far as beating champions, it's arguably one of the best ever," Alvarez said, when asked to reflect on his own résumé.

And yet, in the buildup to his title defense against featherweight champion Conor McGregor at UFC 205 on Saturday, Alvarez estimates half the media attention he has received has been a generic, "the guy McGregor is fighting" kind of interest.

"Half of these interviews have basically looked at me as Conor's opponent," Alvarez said. "The other half actually know who I am. The truth is, a large majority of the market, I'd guess 80 percent, doesn't know anything more than what they are sold.

"And right now, they've been sold a certain product. I haven't been it. Conor's been it. He's been what they're selling -- and a lot of people have bought it."

That they have. Heading into UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden, McGregor (20-3) is the hottest-selling item in the history of mixed martial arts.

McGregor's last three fights, all of which took place in Las Vegas, combined to produce nearly $26 million in gate revenues. The UFC, a private company that does not release pay-per-view numbers, told ESPN.com this year that McGregor's two fights against Nate Diaz rank among the top three sellers in company history.

Alvarez (28-4) isn't the first to attribute a large portion of this success to the UFC's eagerness to promote McGregor, a fast-talking, hard-hitting Irish star. One criticism of McGregor's record is that he benefited from preferential matchmaking on his way to the top.

"If he wasn't able to sell, he wouldn't have been able to pick his opponents coming up," Alvarez said. "He would have fought a wrestler before now. His record wouldn't be what it is and his performances wouldn't have looked the way they did. He never would have gotten a rematch against Nate Diaz.

"He's very fortunate to be a good salesman. He's been granted a lot of favoritism the rest of us haven't."

UFC president Dana White, however, says the opposite has taken place during McGregor's career -- that the UFC has tried, at times, to pull McGregor back from attempting too much, but he doesn't listen.

"It's the dumbest thing anybody could ever say," White said. "It's like these guys who are still questioning him, 'He's had the most perfect handpicked opponents' -- it's crazy. Jose Aldo is a perfectly picked opponent? It's ridiculous.

"This kid limped out of the Octagon after his last fight against Nate Diaz and said, 'I want to be on that New York card.' When he said that, I said, 'Dude, you just came off an absolute five-round war. I'm worried about the leg you're limping on. I don't think I'm going to do that fight.' He said, 'Let my leg be the last thing you're worried about.'"

The beauty for Alvarez is that he has an opportunity to prove his theory correct in New York. That attitude has existed in Alvarez since he started training as a high school kid in Philadelphia.

When Alvarez won his first championship in 2006 as a welterweight for a promotion called BoDog Fight, the UFC was marketing Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre as the top fighters in the world.

Even then, Alvarez and his original team in Philadelphia felt the only real difference between them and St-Pierre was opportunity.

"I feel like, if you would have asked us back then, we would have said we were on that level," said Alvarez's former head coach Stephen Haigh. "I don't think we ever felt, 'Oh, because they're in the UFC, those guys have some special technique.'

"I still kind of hold that same belief. People think that because these guys are fighting on that stage, they must be doing something magical. It's a matter of opportunity. As far as we were ever concerned, we were on that same level, even back then."

Despite his accomplishments, Alvarez feels a good half of those watching UFC 205 this weekend will barely see him at first. They'll be too caught up in McGregor video packages. All those one-liners he has uttered recently, and highlights of knockouts against opponents who weren't capable of taking him down.

But by the end of the night, Alvarez believes the curtain will have dropped.

"I think sports is a quest to find out what really is -- not what perceptions are," Alvarez said. "The business aspect of this sport is a contradiction to what it's really about, and that's knowing something for what it is and not just what it looks like.

"For this fight, I'll play this role. We'll get out and reach the media, but for me, the most important part is knowing who's who and what's what. That's gonna happen on Nov. 12."