Every caveat, every jinx protection applies.
But it must be said. Barring injuries or failed drug tests or spilled salt or one open umbrella too many inside UFC headquarters, UFC 205, the first UFC event to take place in New York City, is the greatest collection of talent and matchups that anyone in the history of mixed martial arts has ever assembled. And it’s not even particularly close.
“This is the biggest card we’ve ever done,” UFC President Dana White said at the UFC 205 news conference Tuesday. “This is the best all-around fight card in UFC history.”
It isn’t possible to argue with White this time.
Maybe it was Tuesday morning when you realized this card had been bitten by a radioactive spider and morphed into the MMA card that ate New York. That was when White announced on Boomer & Carton that native New Yorker and former middleweight champ Chris Weidman would face fellow top contender Yoel Romero—and quite possibly do so on the evening’s undercard.
Maybe it came Tuesday night, when 23-0 lightweight phenom Khabib Nurmagomedov was plugged into the card against the hard-charging Michael Johnson. Again, a bout that could probably headline a cable TV card will be likely be relegated to prelim duty November 12 in Madison Square Garden.
Plenty of fans certainly felt a sudden lightning bolt Monday night when, amid some grousing about the card’s tepidity, word burst onto social media that Conor McGregor, the UFC featherweight champ and the unquestioned king of all he cares to survey in the game of MMA, will face Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title. A win would make him the first fighter to simultaneously hold two UFC titles.
With McGregor (20-3) as the de facto face of the card, you have a charismatic and gregarious personality whose mere existence in front of cameras and behind microphones will help to move quite a few metaphorical units.
That makes three title fights for UFC 205—itself a virtually unprecedented number. (UFC 33 back in 2001 also contained three title bouts.) McGregor and Alvarez join strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who defends her title against Karolina Kowalkiewicz, and welterweight belt-holder Tyron Woodley, who fights kickboxing dynamo Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, as the evening’s championship bouts.
Factoring in McGregor‘s featherweight strap, you have four reigning champs on this card. Throw in Weidman, New Jerseyite Frankie Edgar, Miesha Tate and Rashad Evans, that’s a whopping eight current or former title holders scheduled for action.
And this is to say nothing of talented and popular competitors such as Donald Cerrone, Jeremy Stephens, Thiago Alves, Tim Boetsch, Jim Miller and Tim Kennedy rounding out the card as if they were mere ham-n-eggers.
Perhaps that’s why Forbes magazine predicted Tuesday that UFC 205 would break various company records—and that came before the Weidman and Nurmagomedov bouts were announced.
“First, UFC 205 should be able to set a new [record] for live gate, or money generated by the venue,” wrote Forbes‘ Matt Connolly. “Can 205 also become the promotion’s new pay-per-view king? This victory is less decisive, but well within reach.”
With prices for some tickets already well-ensconced in the quadruple digits for 18,200-seat MSG, a new UFC record for gate—currently $10.1 for UFC 129, held in 2011 in Toronto, according to UFC stats (via CBSSports.com’s Robby Kalland)—seems doable. The second-highest live gate in UFC history, by the way, came last December at UFC 194, which was headlined by McGregor knocking out Jose Aldo for the featherweight title.
UFC’s current pay-per-view record may be a bit more daunting but appears more attainable when considering that the current record, according to MMA business site MMA Manifesto, of an estimated 1.65 million buys was set just a month ago in large part by—you guessed it—McGregor. UFC 202, featuring McGregor‘s rematch with Nate Diaz, set the new record after UFC 100 and its 1.6 million buys held the record for seven years.
Now, none of this is to say there aren’t concerns. As McGregor chases dual-belt glory, the featherweight division languishes on the sidelines. Top fighters like Max Holloway are forced to spin their wheels. Former champ Jose Aldo, frustrated by the inaction, went so far Tuesday as to request his UFC release, according to Brazilian website Combate (h/t Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting).
There is also the wider notion that the UFC is chasing money here, rather than rewarding those who have worked their way to a title shot. As McGregor, who has never fought as a lightweight in the UFC, cuts the line in the name of making a big splash in the Big Apple, fighters who are more deserving on paper, such as Nurmagomedov, receive matches that are below what they feel they’ve rightfully earned.
That’s unfortunately, but fans who worry about “deserve” may be looking a gift horse in the mouth. Hopefully every fighter ultimately has a chance to reap what he or she has sewn, but this is a business, and by any metric, this card will be quite a thing to witness. MMA fans should let themselves be excited for and enjoy UFC 205 for what it is, which is, simply, the best.
Here’s hoping the MMA gods keep the black cats out of its way.
For reference, here’s the full lineup as currently scheduled for UFC 205:
- Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez (for lightweight title)
- Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson (for welterweight title)
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz (for strawweight title)
- Chris Weidman vs. Yoel Romero
- Donald Cerrone vs. Kelvin Gastelum
- Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Michael Johnson
- Miesha Tate vs. Raquel Pennington
- Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens
- Tim Kennedy vs. Rashad Evans
- Tim Boetsch vs. Rafael Natal
- Jim Miller vs. Thiago Alves
- Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad
- Liz Carmouche vs. Katlyn Chookagian
Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
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