The UFC touches down in New York for the first time on Saturday with one of the best lineups in its long history at UFC 205.
Madison Square Garden will play host to three title fights, including the biggest draw in the history of the sport. In the main event, featherweight Conor McGregor takes on lightweight kingpin Eddie Alvarez in the first meeting of two current champions since Georges St-Pierre and BJ Penn met at UFC 94 in 2009.
This champion vs. champion matchup is a momentous occasion and one of the best pure matchups that can be made in the entire sport.
The rest of the card doesn’t disappoint. Tyron Woodley defends his newly won welterweight crown against Stephen Thompson in a crackling co-main event, while rising star Joanna Jedrzejczyk puts her strawweight belt on the line against Karolina Kowalkiewicz in an all-Polish title matchup at 115 pounds.
Three more outstanding fights round out the best main card in UFC history.
Former middleweight champion Chris Weidman returns to action for the first time since losing his belt, going against Cuban Olympian Yoel Romero and his seven-fight winning streak. The surging Donald Cerrone takes on Kelvin Gastelum in an outstanding welterweight bout, and former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate draws Raquel Pennington in the opener.
Even the preliminary card is full of talent. Former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar draws Jeremy Stephens in the Fox Sports 1 headliner, while an outstanding lightweight fight featuring Khabib Nurmagomedov and Michael Johnson deepens the offering.
Let’s take a look at each individual matchup.