We have a full fight card set for
UFC 205 in New York City’s Madison Square
Garden. Three title fights are in store, including a champion vs. champion main
event between lightweight king Eddie Alvarez and featherweight titleholder
Conor McGregor. Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley defends his title against
Stephen Thompson, while strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk faces Karolina
Kowalkiewicz in a Poland vs. Poland showdown.
As for the rest of this show? Khabib Nurmagomedo vs. Michael
Johnson was announced during yesterday’s presser. Yoel Romero and Chris Weidman
will square off in a huge middleweight matchup. Miesha Tate returns against
Raquel Pennington. Donald Cerrone will be fighting Kelvin Gastelum, and Frankie
Edgar will battle Jeremy Stephens.
Feast your eyes on this card. Is this the greatest card on
paper in UFC history? We don’t even have a bout order set, although Brett
Okamoto reports you can expect a six-fight main card.
Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson (for Woodley's
welterweight belt)
Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz (for
Jedrzejczyk's strawweight belt)
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Michael Johnson
Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman
Donald Cerrone vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Raquel Pennington vs. Miesha Tate
Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens
Rashad Evans vs. Tim Kennedy
Tim Boetsch vs. Rafael Natal
Thiago Alves vs. Jim Miller
Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad
Liz Carmouche vs. Katlyn Chookagian
Eddie Alvarez has been trying to pick a fight with Conor
McGregor and he finally got it. Earlier this week, it was announced that
Alvarez-McGregor will headline UFC 205 in
Madison
Square Garden. It's only the second champion vs. champion bout in UFC
history, behind Georges St-Pierre vs. BJ Penn 2.
At the press conference on Tuesday, McGregor showed his
usual level of braggadocio, predicting a first-round KO of the lightweight
champion and declaring himself to be worth $4.2 billion. Alvarez held his own
in the verbal sparring, telling McGregor he had a "little kid belt"
and that the lightweight belt was staying in Philly.
Later in the week, Alvarez continued his gamesmanship by
appearing on the Talking Brawls podcast to discuss his upcoming fight with
McGregor and why he was so adamant about wanting to fight McGregor at 205.
"I'm a prize fighter. This will be the biggest prize to
date but here's the thing: he wants my belt. He says, ‘beg, beg, beg' but he
wants my belt. My money's already my money. It's already cashed, there ain't
nothing he's gonna do about that. It's my money. The belt, he ain't sniffing at
this belt. He ain't got a shot at this belt. So I'm getting what I want at the
end of the day. He will not get what he wants."
Alvarez as the lightweight champion has a certain percentage
of pay-per-view points tied into each of his fights with the UFC and McGregor
is the biggest star in the sport's history. McGregor's rematch with Nate Diaz
at UFC 202 did an estimated 1.2-1.5 million buys. McGregor headlining the UFC's
debut at Madison Square Garden in a champion vs. champion match with two other
title fights on the card looks poised to shatter the UFC PPV record, meaning
Alvarez will be making a tidy sum come November.
Alvarez maintains it's not just about the money though. The
lightweight champ says he was tired of people asking him about McGregor despite
beating opponents he views as better than the featherweight kingpin. While he
acknowledges that McGregor is a talented fighter, Alvarez believes him to be
overhyped because of a padded record.
"He's single-handedly picked the best style matchups
for himself all throughout his reign in the UFC. If you look carefully, you
understand that this guy hasn't put himself against a guy that can threaten him
on the ground. The only one he's done that against is Chad Mendes on late
notice because he had to. Other than that, he fought off stand up fighters who
don't do ground attacks at all. So he got to be able to be himself and not have
to adjust ever to anybody else's strengths."
Alvarez believes he has the wrestling and grappling to
control McGregor on the ground and make it a bad night for him and unlike
Mendes on short notice, he believes he can do it for the full 25 minutes. But
that's not all. Alvarez says that wrestling isn't his only way to win. The
lightweight champ believes he has the advantage anywhere the fight goes.
"I'll do whatever the f*ck I want in any aspect against
him. The opponents he's fought allow him to look great. That's the issue.
That's what these WWF fans who follow him don't see. They see a guy who's
fighting or playing to his strengths so he can do what he wants and be good at
it.
"I'll do whatever the f*ck I want. If I want to stand,
I'll stand. He don't move his head, he gets hit a ton. Chad Mendes has a tiny
little reach and was popping him all over the place with overhand rights and
left hooks before he took him down. His defense is atrocious. His offense is
good. He's offensively a good fighter when it comes to boxing and things but
his defense is f*cking terrible.
"A guy like me, I can go wherever. I can kick, I can
punch, I can takedown, I can submit, and I can do it all fucking night."
After McGregor's loss to Nate Diaz earlier this year, many
perceive cardio to be a weakness of his. And while he did go a full 25 minutes
against Diaz in the rematch, including winning the fourth round, many still
believe McGregor slows down considerably after the first eight minutes. Alvarez
has fought into the championship rounds on three separate occasions, winning
two of those bouts.
But Alvarez doesn't think he'll need all that cardio. Like
McGregor, the lightweight champ is predicting a short night for himself.
"I think I hit him with a hard, clean f*cking shot, he
goes down and I submit him. He gets hit with every left hook you throw. I could
close my eyes and hit his big ass head."
Alvarez faces McGregor on Nov. 12 at UFC 205 in New York.
The entire interview is here. Eddie also tells a funny story
about Conor beating the crap out of Artem Lobov and a sad story about growing
up of mixed Irish-Puerto Rican decent. It's a really good interview and one you
should definitely listen to.
