UFC 205: Alvarez vs McGregor

[ColinBollocks]

I felt bad for Pennington. One of my great fears is getting up in a huge crowd and making a tit of your life, which is what she did. I had mild anxiety watching her stumble her way through all her butchered clichés.

 

In her defence, she just finished a fight and was clearly nervous. Nevertheless, it will probably lead to a fevered nightmare tonight.

 

I was all settled too until Buffer decided to join in on the act. The best part was Woodley looking like he was ready to land one on dear Uncle Bruce.

[GlennCullen]

Was it definitely Buffer ballsing it up? The way I took it (in fairness I had been up for 24 hours at that point) was that the judges had given the split decision, Buffer had questioned it, announced it, then they realised they'd got it wrong?

[wandshogun09]

Even if the judges cocked something up, Buffer's got to take his share of the blame. When you hear the words coming out of your own mouth that two of the three judges scored the fight 47-47 even, it can't be a decision win in favour of either guy. That's just common sense. Bruce has been around long enough to know better.

 

Once he knew the scores he was reading were correct, and I'm assuming that's what he left the cage to check, it couldn't be a win for either guy.

[firstnameunknown]

BT editing McGregor's promo was "weak as piss". What are we, toddlers? Are we going to be corrupted if we hear the word 'fuck' at 5:30am or whatever it was? I've always said BT have been the best channel for UFC coverage by far over the years but this was lame as fuck.

It was 6.30, and you're not going to find a channel prepared to air that kind of language at that time in the morning...

 

As for Bruce, Tom Lawlor said on the Observer show that he's only allowed to announce what's written down for him, so he knew it was wrong (hence why he initially left the Octagon to challenge it) but couldn't really do anything else. His jacket was insane though.

[jimufctna24]

As much as I want to have a pop at Rogan for following a certain narrative, then sticking stubbornly to it regardless of what is occurring in front of him, I can't be too critical. During the closing moments of the first round of the Main Event, and throughout the 2nd round before the stoppage, I couldn't shake the feeling that McGregor was going to fade come the end of round 2, and that Alvarez was going to take over. Each time Alvarez's head bounced off the canvas from a McGregor knockdown, I was preying for the end to come. I really didn't want the fight to go deep. I think the Diaz fights had accustomed me to feel that way.

 

Interestingly, Kavanagh said during fight week that he and McGregor drifted after the Aldo fight. Their training regimes became more unstructured. They addressed this going into the 2nd Diaz fight. I know that the Aldo is his best scalp, and the 2nd Diaz fight is his best fight from an excitement perspective, but last night might have been his best win. He knocked down a worldclass Lightweight 4 times in less than 2 rounds. His power has clearly transferred up to 155lbs.

 

Like Fox Piss, I have spent my time supporting McGregor, while at the same time doubting him. I've picked against him during his past 4 wins - Mendes, Aldo, Diaz, and Alvarez. As Brain Stann said last night, he's probably a better fighter than most give him credit for. Especially amongst the hardcore fanbase. Khabib would almost certainly beat him, but I think he'd do fine against the rest at 155lbs. 

[AdamTH17]

What do we think is going down with the Featherweight belt then?

 

McGregor's child isn't expected until May, meaning he's not going to be around until then at the very latest, and that's even if he chooses to go back down. I know he bangs on about defending both belts, but what's he got left there? The only top guy from that division he hasn't beat is Edgar, and that might not be a fight Conor wants. If he's back by May, that's a year and a half near enough the Featherweight belt will have gone without being defended, and though I don't doubt Conor's clout in these decisions, this might be a subject Dana puts his foot down on.

 

If Aldo is serious about retiring, I'd like to see Edgar vs Holloway/Pettis winner personally.

[David]

 

The only thing that surprised me about the main event was that so few people saw it coming.

 

Back on topic, does anyone think that Alvarez is a perfect opponent for McGregor? He's certainly far more suitable for him than Dos Anjos was, that's for sure.

 

I see McGregor stopping him late 1st or early 2nd.

Alvarez was a perfect opponent for McGregor, the kind of fighter who's decent at most of the game, but outstanding at nothing. Also, he takes plenty of punches, which is what set the alarm bells ringing for me when the fight was announced.

 

Was always going to finish as it did.

Them MMA fans when they are right they act like they knew all along and when they are wrong you hear nothing for months

 

There's no "acting" here, my friend. I posted the quote. I was fairly sure how this one was going to play out.

 

As I've said before, styles make fights.

[WyattSheepMask]

You'd hope that Aldo has one more fight in him to go for the big unification payday.

He could work the angle of Conor caught him with a lucky shot to win the belt in the first place and has been avoiding fighting at Featherweight since to avoid the possibility of having to fight Aldo again to prove it wasn't a fluke (for the record, I'm not saying it was a fluke, but that's the angle you could work). That way he either unifies the belts and rides off into the sunset, or Conor unifies them and Aldo retires tail between his legs. Either way, it's a money fight for both men

[jimufctna24]

If Aldo is serious about retiring, I'd like to see Edgar vs Holloway/Pettis winner personally.

If I were a betting man, I would wager that Aldo goes back on it. If McGregor is vacates the main title, I expect Aldo's interim belt to be upgraded, and for him to face off against the winner of Pettis/Holloway. There's a chance we might still get Pettis vs Aldo. The fight that 2013 was screaming out for, and one that I still would love to see today - despite the tarnish being taken off it. 

[wandshogun09]

Aldo vs Pettis needs to happen. And now Pettis is at 145 it's more likely than it's been since it was actually signed in 2013. There hasn't been another opportunity really to book that fight because both were busy in different divisions. But if Pettis beats Holloway (and I'm really not sure he does), Aldo vs Pettis makes all the sense in the world.

 

 

Before Alvarez vs McGregor was announced and Aldo started saying he wanted to retire, Aldo was asked about potentially fighting the Pettis vs Holloway winner and he actually said he'd prefer to fight Pettis because "it would sell more than a fight with Holloway and would be an easier fight".

[jimufctna24]

Aldo vs Holloway would be a nice consolation prize. Any variation of Aldo, Holloway, and Pettis would suit me fine. 

[theringmaster]

^{The most extroidinary thing about this fight for me was how all I saw on social media were posts from the 'casuals', the sort who watch about 3 UFC shows a year, saying stuff like "Eddie never stood a chance", "Connor could have beaten him with one hand" etc and as much as it pains me I kind of have to agree with them. As much as I respect Eddie he just wasn't on the same level for any part of that fight, Connor made him look like a 'have a go fighter', not a world class athlete. I thought Connor would win but I didn't imagine it being that one sided. This fight was truly his finest hour, he dominated every second and just looked supreme. The Aldo knockout will always be his highlight reel moment but this fight will be the textbook on how good Connor was.}

 

^{Tate's retirement was a bit of a sad note, two tough loses just broke her it seems. Its a great shame that she is bowing out when it looks like she still has so much left to give, that division really is shallow and depending on what happens with Ronda it was not hard to imagine Tate having another title shot in 2017.}

[lambyUK]

Well, there's not much else to say about Mcgregor except the guy is just incredible. I picked him to win via TKO in the build up to the fight for the reasons we saw on Saturday night. He's just to powerful and accurate for Alvarez and considering Alvarez's past, he's just not slick enough for Mcgregor. Did I start questioning my prediction in the build up? Fuck yes. When you heard every fighter picking Eddie it puts a couple doubts in your mind, but I still believed in Mcgregor. On top of that, Alvarez really is quite a small lightweight.

 

Mentally he's just on another level to most other fighters.

 

Regarding BT's bleeping out of Mcgregor's speech, they had absolutely no choice in the matter. The British legal watershed is 9pm till 5.30am and Mcgregor's speech was about 6.30am. My 2 and a half year old son wakes up even before then. The only bollock they dropped was cutting back slightly after the Edgar decision was read out. 

 

Yoel Romero is absolutely terrifying too. He also dispelled doubters of his fading as the fight progresses. If anything he was getting stronger as the fight progressed. The finish scared the shit out of me though as I thought Weidman was seriously hurt. The end result for me really confirmed Weidman's major weakness in that he doesn't possess any real dangerous tools standing up and why I hold Romero, Rockhold and possibly Jacare above him. 

 

Khabib really is a monster yet early in his fight was a bit of an eye opener into perhaps why him facing Mcgregor certainly isn't as easy a fight as many think. Mcgregor has the reach advantage over Khabib along with stand up that's just on another level to Khabib's. If Mcgregor can manage that distance he could quite easily finish Khabib. However, if Khabib gets you down it's going to a long night. 

 

We've only ever seen Mcgregor taken down in the Mendes fight and it's been well documented recently that he was carrying a bad knee injury where he wasn't able to even defend a take down. Since then, his takedown defence has seemed extremely solid. 

 

I'm now fascinated by the potential fight.

 

It also came to light that his girlfriend is due to give birth in May, so I wonder whether he could perhaps fight one more time before then? 

[Supremo]

An outstanding performance from Conor, made all the more satisfying considering the, "he's not a real fighter," and, "Santa isn't real," talk from Alvarez and his coach.

 

That the same guy who danced into the press conference, laughing his tits off when he grabbed the belt, can put on such a performance in the cage is unbelievable. He really is the best ever. They should give him whatever stake in the company that he wants.

 

I lost my bottle early last week, as is tradition with Conor's fights, and was utterly convinced he was going to get wrestled to an embarrassing decision. It was a delight to be so wrong. I agree with someone earlier saying how annoying some casual fans have been about it though. There are guys in my office who, having heard that I bet against him, have argued I don't know what I'm talking about and I'm not a proper fan, like they are. These are the same guys who had absolutely no idea who he was, and mocked me for going to see, "scrapping for cash," when I travelled to the Dublin show to see him headline against Brandao.

[Guy Bifkin]

Such a brilliant event - Conor's PPVs always deliver top to bottom and this might have been the best yet. The only fight I wasn't feeling was Tate v Pennington. 

 

Conor was on another level and Alvarez looked like a rabbit in the headlights. I've never seen anyone hit like McGregor, it looks like there's nothing on his shots but they are so precise and timed to perfection. His takedown defence is rock solid now. The Weidman KO was genuinely scary. Woodley vs Wonderboy was absolutely insane, particularly the fourth round. 

 

Only downer was the wrong call giving Woodley the split decision and them not having Conor's belt. Made them look a bit unprofessional. It sort of felt like UFC and McGregor moving into a new stratosphere and perhaps the old guard of Dana, Rogan, Buffer et al getting left behind.