Sam Alvey names ‘wimp’ Jake Paul his dream fight at Karate Combat but ‘I’m not old enough or retired enough’

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Sam Alvey | Photo by Louis Grasse/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Karate Combat heavyweight champion Sam Alvey loves fighting so much he feels “guilty” naming dream fights, but one athlete ultimately gets the mention.

Alvey has done great since leaving the UFC, winning and defending a Karate Combat title. He’s scheduled to defend the 205-pound throne this Friday, headlining KC 54 opposite striking legend Tyrone Spong in Dubai.

In the future, Alvey would love to give YouTube-turned-boxer Jake Paul his night in the pit if he had the power of choosing.

“I want Jake Paul to come over,” Alvey told MMA Fighting. “Jake Paul, come fight me in the pit, you wimp.”

Paul has won his past five as a professional boxer, beating ex-UFC talents Nate Diaz and Mike Perry before besting 58-year-old Mike Tyson. Paul is currently slated to box 39-year-old Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on June 25, and Alvey doesn’t think he’ll ever end up on Paul’s hit list.

“No, no, no, no,” Alvey said. “I’m not old enough or retired enough for him to want to fight me. Or small enough [laughs]. I’m too young. I’m too athletic. I’m too big, and I’m not retired. Those are his four qualifications for fighting somebody.”

Alvey hasn’t fought under MMA rules since scoring a third-round stoppage over Cameron Graham in his sole post-UFC match in May 2023, a result that snapped a nine-fight winless skid. The 54-fight MMA veteran said that could end up being his final appearance in the sport.

“I hope I’m done with MMA,” Alvey said. “I love MMA, but I hope I’m done with that. I hope Karate Combat and I can work together for long time to come. … You know what would be great? If at the end of my contract, the UFC says, ‘Hey bajillion dollars to fight for us.’ And then I’ll go to Karate Combat and say, ‘Hey Karate Combat, UFC has offered me a bajillion. Would you offer me a bajillion, or how close to a bajillion could you get?’ That would be ideal [laughs].”

Alvey is unbeaten since joining Karate Combat in late 2023. More than that, he’s living the best life.

“I love Karate Combat. I’m having so much fun with this organization,” Alvey said. “It’s the first organization that really bases every fight, every event, every venue, on fan enjoyment. Every organization says they try. Karate Combat really does. Everything they do is to make it a better experience for the people watching at home. Shoot, if you ever get a chance to go to a Karate Combat, it’s so cool.

“The fighters are eye-level. In a cage, if you’re at the UFC event, yeah, it’s cool, but you’re always looking up at either the cage or as everyone does, they look at the screen, because nobody likes to watch their fight through the cage. I’ve always preferred watching fights in a ring, and now the pit is better than everything.”

Alvey looks to keep his belt by beating Spong this weekend and has the utmost respect for his opponent’s story in combat sports.

“He might be the greatest kickboxer to have ever lived,” Alvey said. “There’s only a few people that could be compared to him. And he’s fought people bigger than him, smaller than him. He’s fought anyone and everyone at all times. He’s deciding to come back out of his little retirement to fight me, it’s a huge honor.”

One thing Alvey won’t do is call Spong the biggest fight of his life. For the UFC veteran, it doesn’t surpass facing—and beating—former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans at a UFC Fight Night show in Mexico back in 2017.

“This will be the second biggest fight I’ve ever had,” Alvey said of Spong. “Rashad has to be No. 1. He’s a UFC Hall of Famer, but Spong is right there. I believe Spong is Rashad’s coach, so that’s kind of cool too.”

Spong scored knockouts in all but one of his boxing matches, and has floored many men inside the kickboxing ring. Alvey expects Spong to have difficulties dealing with the Karate Combat pit, though, as well as his punching power.

“So he’s got to remember I hit just as hard, maybe harder,” Alvey said. “I believe I have more knockouts than him. I’m not positive, I know it’s close. We hit hard. We’re both very aware of how hard we hit and we’re both very aware of how not to get hit by one another. That’s kind of the game. We got to figure out how to get in and get out without getting tagged. Both sides, he and I.”

“I don’t think the ring rust is going to play a factor, but I think the pit will,” he continued. “The pit throws people off. Even my first time, I was real nervous about touching it, I stayed away from it. And then my second, third fight, the pit is tricky. Unless you have one or have experienced it, you’re just not ready for it.”

Photo via Karate Combat

Sam Alvey

Alvey left the UFC on a lengthy winless skid, but turned things around under the Karate Combat banner. According to the MMA veteran, the pit played a factor in his change.

“I tried to change [in the UFC] but I’m an old dog and it takes a real change in venue apparently to make me change the way I fight,” Alvey said. “ The way I’ve always fought, I’ve always been a counterstriker. The bell rings, I walked backwards, my entire career. It was the rise and fall of me in the UFC. The pit, I cannot walk backwards. I can’t do it because if you walk backwards, you fall over. I got into the mindset as I have to push forward. And all my fights I’ve pushed forward, I’ve stayed off that wall. I’ve changed the way I fight because of it.

“And now, a little bit in my last one and my last two, I’ve been able to take advantage of it because I’ve had a little bit of experience. And now in my head, I’m always playing the Ninja Turtle game in my head. Oh, what would I do here? How do I hit him here? What kind of fun stuff can I do? So in my head, I’m just constantly thinking about how I can use that pit to my advantage.

“Like I said, the rise and fall of my career in the UFC. The rise was people didn’t know how I fought. I fought backwards. People fell into that trap, they’d attack and I’d catch them on the way in. Once they figured that out, they were able to time me. ‘Just blitz them faster than he can react, we’ll catch them.’ And it started working. The pit has changed the way I have to fight. I have to walk forward now. I’m a new fighter. I have lot of the same habits, but certain things of me, you can’t study my UFC tape to see. You have to study my Karate Combat tapes, and I finished all my guys. So there’s not a ton of tape to see there.”

Alvey vs. Spong is scheduled for five three-minute rounds, and “Smilin’” predicts “it’s not going to go to a decision.”

“He’s going to push the pace because again, he hasn’t fought in six years,” Alvey said. “He’s fighting in a new arena. He’s fighting overseas. The cardio isn’t going to be there for him. The power is the last to go, the cardio is the first to go. And he hasn’t had that experience. I’m sure he is training hard, but under the lights with the cameras and everyone cheering for you, it gets to you. I suspect he wants to end the fight earlier, and I’m fine going the distance.

“The last thing to go on a fighter and an athlete is their power. He has always been a power striker. Everything he’s done is he throws it not to hurt me, but to kill me. I don’t suspect that’s gone. He probably hits as hard, maybe harder than he’s ever hit before. I just have to be able to time the shots. I have to be able to pick my shots and don’t try and get in a slug match with him because I know how hard he hits.”

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