Former UFC Champion ‘Can’t Sit on Sidelines Any Longer’ — Buys Bitcoin

American mixed martial artist and former UFC lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez, has bought one Bitcoin (BTC). In a tweet, May 7, he claimed he “can’t sit on the sidelines any longer.”

Peer pressure works

Alvarez credits fellow former MMA champion and renowned Bitcoin bull, Ben Askren, for convincing him to take the plunge, saying:

“You got me !!! I still have no clue what it’s all about but I’m in ... you might have to coach me they this.”

Askren is such a big BTC fan that he has even changed his Twitter handle in honor of the upcoming Bitcoin halving. As Cointelegraph reported, in January he also publicly labeled XRP “a scam.”

The Twitterverse responds as one would imagine

Responses to Alvarez’s tweet were a mixture of welcoming and mocking. Mike Novogratz welcomed him “to the home team”, Saifedean Ammous enquired if Alvarez had received the copy of his book, The Bitcoin Standard, which he had sent…

And someone suggested that now he could buy drugs and nuclear weapons on the darknet, to which he responded, “Sweet can’t wait !!”

Alvarez was also asked, did he “just pay 9k for A BITCOIN.” He confirmed that the actual price was more like $9,800, but that:

“I don’t care about the value now or in the near future, it’s a long term hold, not a cash grab.”

The UFC recently announced a partnership with sports tokenization platform, Chiliz, offering fans the opportunity to exchange tokens for VIP experiences.