The fight game is one of peaks and valleys, and few are more familiar with full swing of the spectrum more than Eddie Alvarez.

The Philadelphia-born brawler scrapped his way to prominence by winning belts all around the globe, before finally arriving to the UFC stage in 2014. Yet, before Alvarez could ever step into the Octagon he had to endure nearly a year on the sidelines due to a nasty contract dispute between Zuffa and Bellator MMA, the promotion whose lightweight title Alvarez held.

Nevertheless, the legal storm would cease and Alvarez would resume his fighting career, and a two short years later found himself on top of the UFC's 155-pound mountain. In defeating Rafael dos Anjos, Alvarez has collected the one belt that eluded him for years, but it was a glory short-lived as the Mark Henry-trained fighter would drop the strap in his next fight against Conor McGregor at UFC 205.

Where Alvarez is no stranger to high profile tilts, the showdown with the Irish superstar was an entirely different realm of publicity. Alvarez was forced to endure McGregor's taunts for months, and promised to shut him up once and for all come fight night at Madison Square Garden.

Only that's not what happened. Not even close.

McGregor doled a one-sided drubbing to put Alvarez away in the opening frame and become the first ever two-weight champion in UFC history. Immediately following the fight, Alvarez addressed the media in attendance, then went on hiatus out of the spotlight.

On a recent visit with Brian Stann on the Fight Game Podcast, the former lightweight champion recalled the toughest night of his career and how he moved forward.

"The athlete and ego part inside me would have never been able to step up and do that, but I have three boys and they are getting older now and they're competing," Alvarez said. "I have a bigger role than just myself. I'm trying and I'm not always doing what I feel inside. I'm doing what is right.

"To be able to put a suit on, step up and admit what I did wrong and move it along; that's the most important thing. That's what being a champion is all about and that's what I pride myself in doing. I'm excited because it was a small chapter in my whole book that will be my career. It was a disastrous chapter, but now we get to write some new good ones."

In the fallout from his loss at UFC 205, Alvarez suddenly found himself needing to find motivation like never before. Where he'd previously leaned on his family and their financial security, the payday from fighting in New York City provided the biggest cushion he'd ever earned inside the cage.

That said, the will to fight was still pumping strong, he just needed to fight the right opponent to dance with. And that's what he received in facing Dustin Poirier at UFC 211 on May 13 in Dallas, Tex.

"I made a lot of money, I won a lot of titles, but right now in my career I really feel it's time to dig deep. In the past it was very simple to pin down a reason why," Alvarez said. "Whether it's my children...I needed to do something for the people that were looking up to me. For the past couple months I found I needed to dig deeper to find even more of a why, and to move forward although I've accomplished what I've accomplished. I've done that and I'm excited.

"[Dustin] has been making a lot of noise, especially with the Jim Miller fight. I need someone like that with his style. I need a good fight and I have one right now."