On Saturday, controversial and charismatic MMA star Conor McGregor will battle Eddie Alvarez for the UFC Lightweight Championship. The match, which is headlining UFC 205, is intriguing for a number of reasons.
For one, it involves McGregor, who rarely fails to entertain. The match is also interesting because it is a “champion vs. champion” bout. While the fight is for Alvarez’s lightweight title, McGregor currently holds the UFC Featherweight Championship.
This will be McGregor‘s first lightweight bout since 2012.
The event itself will be the first-ever UFC event held at Madison Square Garden.
McGregor and Alvarez weighed in Friday. McGregor came in at 154.4 pounds, while Alvarez weighed in at 154.6. This, of course, means the fight is officially on.
Let’s run down the rest of the main card weigh-in results along with some of the top social media reactions heading into Saturday’s fight.
Weigh-In
While the McGregor-Alvarez contest was made official—as were the other two championship bouts on the main card—the UFC was forced to scrap a fight between Donald Cerrone and Kelvin Gastelum because Gastelum failed to make weight.
Had Gastelum notified officials before the early weigh-ins, Cerrone might have been able to keep the fight on the card. The New York State Athletic Commission requires fighters to be within five pounds of each other. However, Gastelum didn’t even bother to weigh in.
“I’ll never let him fight at 170 again,” UFC President Dana White told Fox Sports’ Andy Nesbitt, per Damon Martin of FoxSports.com. “I think he missed this one by 10 pounds.”
Thiago Alves also missed weight, but his opponent, Jim Miller, was allowed to hydrate in order to reach the five-pound range. For the fight to go on, though, Alves will have to weigh no more than 173 pounds on fight night.
What’s Being Said?
There has been plenty of anticipation building throughout the week, including during Thursday’s press conference and Friday’s weigh-in. Naturally, folks have had plenty to say.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden believes McGregor is the top attraction for UFC 205:
However, as NFL Network’s James Koh pointed out, McGregor isn’t the only one responsible for how this pay-per-view will be remembered:
While a loss to Alvarez wouldn’t necessarily make McGregor overrated, it would hurt the aura of invincibility he once carried. It would also likely hurt his ability to be a top draw in the future. His level of bravado means little for a fighter who doesn’t consistently win.
As UFC light heavyweight Sean O’Connell pointed out, though, McGregor taking this fight isn’t about protecting his reputation:
Speaking of McGregor‘s attitude, it’s worth noting the man got a bit riled up during Thursday’s press conference and acted as if he was going to throw a chair at Alvarez.
Kieran Cunningham of the Irish Daily Star believes it was all a bit immature:
Of course, the upcoming fight is going to be about the two men in the Octagon and the belt that is on the line, not about the buildup and the antics.
As UFC fighter Sheldon Westcott made clear, the end result could be historic:
We’ll find out how things unfold when McGregor and Alvarez face off Saturday. The PPV is scheduled to kick off at 10 p.m. ET.
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