UFC 205: Alvarez vs McGregor

[BigJag]

_{During the Embbedded shows for the Manchester Bisping V Henderson show. There was a bit where Bisping rings Dana, and asks if he needs to bring the belt with him to Manchester. He was told not to bring his belt as they would have one for him. It seems that they just neglected to have two belts on hand for this unique occurrence.}

[ColinBollocks]

What do we reckon is next for McGregor after this?

 

He's probably vacating the FW title, if forced to choose one. Of course, that leads to either Khabib or Ferguson being the obvious contenders, with Diaz being an outside chance of happening. Interesting that he was very quick to downplay a potential Khabib fight due to his injury issues, which is smart because no one is after what Khabib brings.

 

The Woodley fight seems to building up a bit of momentum too, with Conor's antics at the weekend. In the perfect world, GSP returns and wins his belt back, which sets up Conor megafight that surely has a chance of being their biggest PPV show ever. It's massive, obvs.

[Egg Shen]

Amazing show, whenever Conor is involved the shows seem to knock it out of the park. Thing is, a great UFC show doesn't necessarily have to just have great/good fights, it needs to have talking points and if you wanna think of it as a big Pro Wrestling show you need new feuds to start and foundations laid for things going forward and that's exactly what 205 delivered.

 

* Conor.

* Nurmagamedov winning then going fill villainl insulting the entire Conor fanbase and calling him a chicken which on paper sounds shit, but in the broken Russian accent it was great.

* Romero's crazy finish/celebration then having a slanging match with Bisping.

* Tate's surprise retirement.

* The two Polish women having a good fight then trying to set up a rematch in Poland, the UFC have to be interested in that.

* Woodley/Wonderboy controversy and a no-brainer rematch being set up.

 

Just tons of talking points aside from the excellent action in the cage, the main fights all delivered and even the fights that wern't getting any love going in (eg. Boetsch/Natal, Luque/Muhammad) were short and sweet.

 

On the subject of Conor though, just incredible. I'll be first to admit that i got it all wrong, i thought Alvarez was going to bully Conor around. I expected it to be a little dull early as i expected Alvarez to apply pressure and push Conor against the cage, then take over later in the fight. That first Conor left hand just changed everything, it's a lethal punch and he just times it to perfection. Eddie Alvarez has a history of becoming even more dangerous once he's been dropped but Conor just destroyed him. I just sat there open mouthed throughout the entire thing. For anyone who believe Alvarez was never as good as people were making out, get the fuck out of here. Alvarez has beaten a who's who of top lightweight fighters and is every bit as good as they made out, Conor just had his number.

[the_mole]

_{During the Embbedded shows for the Manchester Bisping V Henderson show. There was a bit where Bisping rings Dana, and asks if he needs to bring the belt with him to Manchester. He was told not to bring his belt as they would have one for him. It seems that they just neglected to have two belts on hand for this unique occurrence.}

They give you a new one after every title defense, so Jon Jones, GSP & Anderson Silva probably have loads, I don't know if Alvarez brought his own out with him but that's what they normally do. Conor should now have an Interim FW belt, a FW belt & a LW belt.

[Egg Shen]

John Cavanagh is back in studio on the MMA Hour today, should be a good watch.

[David]

On the subject of Conor though, just incredible. I'll be first to admit that i got it all wrong, i thought Alvarez was going to bully Conor around. I expected it to be a little dull early as i expected Alvarez to apply pressure and push Conor against the cage, then take over later in the fight. That first Conor left hand just changed everything, it's a lethal punch and he just times it to perfection. Eddie Alvarez has a history of becoming even more dangerous once he's been dropped but Conor just destroyed him. I just sat there open mouthed throughout the entire thing. For anyone who believe Alvarez was never as good as people were making out, get the fuck out of here. Alvarez has beaten a who's who of top lightweight fighters and is every bit as good as they made out, Conor just had his number.

 

You're right, Alvarez is good. The problem is, he's not great any particular facet of the game, is he? 

 

That's not to say he's rubbish, but he was clearly perfect for McGregor. He takes far too many punches, is too small and too slow to really compete with someone as rangy and as precise with his punches.

 

There are certain fights that you just know, barring a freak shot like the one Eddie caught RDA with, how they're going to go 9 times out of 10.

 

I think Conor vs Ferguson would be an absolute barnburner, but I'd take Ferguson to win that one every day of the week. He's basically a fitter, harder-hitting, slicker Nate Diaz with better footwork.

 

I'd also choose Khabib & RDA to beat Conor as well. Outside of those three though? Who knows? 

 

Exciting times ahead if the guy actually fights again any time soon.

[Egg Shen]

I see your points Dave, i just thought Alvarez tenacity and durability would see him through, especially any early trouble he'd find himself in which is something Alvarez has done on several occasions . The way he handled Anthony Pettis i thought was the blueprint to beat McGregor, especially given how we saw him fade in his last two fights.

 

Nobody has come close to handling Eddie Alvarez like that and he's been in the cage with just about every type of lightweight you can list.

[AdamTH17]

Tell you what, I was thinking before, comparing 205 to 200, and realised just how much we've gotten in the immediate aftermath of 205 opposed to 200.

 

Thinking about it, the main issue with 200 was just how inconsequential it was. Nothing really happened, per se. I'm not even referring to the fight quality, but looking back at 200, what have we gotten from it? Cain beat Travis, but I think everyone knew that would be the outcome as long as Cain stayed healthy. Aldo beat Edgar, but what's come out of that? Aldo's talking about retiring and it showed if anything Edgar would struggle to compete against the very elite at Featherweight. Cormier beat Silva, but so what? Same with Lesnar beating Hunt - nice moment for Brock, but in hindsight what's come from it? Have we heard anything on the front of Brock fighting again? Then in your main event you've got Nunes battering Miesha to carry on the hot-potato'ing of the Bantamweight title. 

 

Whereas on 205, you've got so much happening. So many questions. How will Conor's striking hold out against Eddie? Which tactics will Eddie set out to use? Will Conor's wrestling cope against Eddie? Can Woodley avoid Wonderboy's striking? Can Wonderboy prove his abilities against a strong wrestler? How will JJ and KK adapt to one another? Will they be more conservative to protect their 0's? 

 

Look at the aftermath as well - Conor's just gone and made history, setting new PPV and gate records in the process, and has opened up a wealth of potential fights for his return in multiple weight classes. Wonderboy and Woodley will be having an immediate rematch, following a fantastic fight and Joanna gets to solidify herself as the top dog at Strawweight, whereas Karolina now has the opportunity to rebuild herself as a real fan favourite. Even in the undercard, you've got Romero looking dominant to set up a title shot with Bisping, and Tate retiring.

 

There's a few shows this year that didn't live up to the hype particularly well, but 205 delivered perfectly in so many ways. It was a bloody great show.

[Egg Shen]

Exactly, it set the wheels in motion for so much going forward. Great stuff.

[Tamura]

Lol at the thought that Beckham Jr bottled it.

He got taken down by a kicking net, McGregor would murder him.

[Keith Houchen]

 

Lol at the thought that Beckham Jr bottled it.

 

He got taken down by a kicking net, McGregor would murder him.

Ha! Good arrows! Someone who knows the score.

[jimufctna24]

 

 

I think Conor vs Ferguson would be an absolute barnburner, but I'd take Ferguson to win that one every day of the week. He's basically a fitter, harder-hitting, slicker Nate Diaz with better footwork.

 

I'd also choose Khabib & RDA to beat Conor as well. Outside of those three though? Who knows? 

 

Exciting times ahead if the guy actually fights again any time soon.

I'm not as sold on Ferguson as others. I saw his fight with Vannata, and he had to survive some hairy moments in the opening round. In fact, he was all over the place at times. Now granted, I didn't see the RDA fight, which was probably his best performance, but I think there would be scope for McGregor to polish him off. The same applies for a potential match-up with RDA. One thing I was impressed with by McGregor on Saturday was his takedown defence. That could serve him well in the future. 

 

I agree about Khabib though. That would be a long night for McGregor. 

[herbie747]

Poor Eddie - look at the shite he had to listen to from his corner. He's out there getting mauled, his brain is frazzled, and they keep yelling stupid code at him:

 

http://www.punditarena.com/mmaufc/sraftery/complete-transcript-of-conor-mcgregor-and-eddie-alvarezs-corner-audio-at-ufc-205/

[Egg Shen]

 

 

 

I think Conor vs Ferguson would be an absolute barnburner, but I'd take Ferguson to win that one every day of the week. He's basically a fitter, harder-hitting, slicker Nate Diaz with better footwork.

 

I'd also choose Khabib & RDA to beat Conor as well. Outside of those three though? Who knows?

 

Exciting times ahead if the guy actually fights again any time soon.

I'm not as sold on Ferguson as others. I saw his fight with Vannata, and he had to survive some hairy moments in the opening round.

The Vannata fight (which was excellent) was likely case of Ferguson underestimated what turned out to be a very unorthodox last minute replacement, i wouldnt read to much into that.

[BigJag]

 

_{During the Embbedded shows for the Manchester Bisping V Henderson show. There was a bit where Bisping rings Dana, and asks if he needs to bring the belt with him to Manchester. He was told not to bring his belt as they would have one for him. It seems that they just neglected to have two belts on hand for this unique occurrence.}

They give you a new one after every title defense, so Jon Jones, GSP & Anderson Silva probably have loads, I don't know if Alvarez brought his own out with him but that's what they normally do. Conor should now have an Interim FW belt, a FW belt & a LW belt.

That's crazy. There's going to be a mountain of the things! You'd think they'd just have a belt for each champion that goes to the events.