Conor McGregor will attempt to make history when he goes head-to-head in the main event of UFC 205 with lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, attempting to become the first fighter in the promotion’s history to hold two titles in different weight classes simultaneously.
Alvarez, who won the title back in July with a thunderous first round TKO win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night 90, recently appeared on the MMA Roasted podcast (courtesy of Fight Sports) to discuss his upcoming clash with ‘The Notorious’ 145-pound champ.
‘The Underground King’ claimed that he himself is responsible for making the fight happen, after countless attempts at dropping McGregor’s name in various media appearances and getting no responses from it:
“I’m the one who made the Conor McGregor fight happen,” he said. “He never had any intention of fighting me. Every time I said his name I didn’t get any response, I didn’t get anything. This is a guy who responds and talks shit to everyone, but every time I talked to the media and tried to drum up a fight or anything like that there’d be no response. So it was obvious that he really didn’t want this fight. It was only when I won the belt that they decided to get a crack at the belt.
“When I joined the UFC I fought the best guys in the division back-to-back-to-back, that was my strategy. I told the media I was tired of getting asked about Conor McGregor, so I told them I could use an easier fight and that’s why it happened.”
McGregor has only suffered one loss since joining the UFC (his UFC 196 second round submission defeat to Nate Diaz in March at welterweight), while his other bouts saw the Irishman’s hand being raised after the SBG Ireland product accumulated six knockouts out of his nine Octagon appearances.
One of the featherweight champ’s most dangerous weapons has been his powerful left hand that has been the downfall of many throughout the former two weight Cage Warriors champ’s career, something Alvarez feels he can ‘easily’ take out of the equation come fight night in November:
“To me, he’s just a left hand,” Alvarez said. “He’s just a guy with a left hand. That’s how I see him. He does something that we call a ‘rock back’ well. Mayweather does it. A lot of Philly fighters do it. He (McGregor) lives and breathes off it. A lot of MMA guys don’t know about these boxing things that they do. This is a move that’s very easily taken away and we’re going to dominate every step of the way.
“Without giving away a gameplan or anything, everything’s taken away with the proper preparation. I’m confident in my coaches, I’m confident in our gameplan and our ability to go out there and do it. We’re just following this gameplan step-by-step.”
Alvarez and McGregor will lock horns in the main event of UFC 205 for the lightweight title live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the Madison Square Garden arena in New York City on November 12, 2016.
The post Eddie Alvarez Believes He Can ‘Easily’ Take Conor McGregor’s Left Hand Away appeared first on LowKick MMA.