On Saturday night at UFC 205, in the glittering heart of the American empire, an Irishman conquered the combat sports world.
Before, there had always been doubts. In Madison Square Garden, Conor McGregor erased them, winning the UFC lightweight title in a record-setting, history-making performance the likes of which have never been seen in mixed martial arts.
Eddie Alvarez’s lightweight strap looked good on McGregor’s shoulder as he sat perched atop the cage in celebration. Beside it was the featherweight title he won from Jose Aldo in 2015. No fighter had ever held two championships simultaneously before McGregor. Perhaps no one ever will again.
What’s next for McGregor will be written in the years to come. Today, we focus instead on how we got here. How did McGregor manage to move up a weight class and beat a fighter many expected to pose both physical and conceptual challenges?
Bleacher Report Senior Writer Jonathan Snowden and Senior Analyst Patrick Wyman detail how McGregor walked away with dual gold in this minute-by-minute breakdown of a masterful performance.
Pre-Fight
Patrick Wyman: Leaving aside the box-office implications and the historic nature of McGregor’s quest to become the first man to simultaneously hold two UFC belts, this was an outstanding matchup. Alvarez’s ability to stick and move, counter, and fall back on periods of grinding wrestling gave him a series of distinct paths to victory, while McGregor’s chances revolved around his pressure and slick left-hand counterpunching arsenal.
Jonathan Snowden: The pre-fight story was told well in dueling quotes before the bout.
“He’s picked very good style matchups for himself,” Alvarez told the UFC’s pay-per-view audience at home. “The illusion of greatness will soon be over. There is no Santa Claus. He doesn’t exist and he never did.”
McGregor’s response was an older chestnut but perfect for the moment.
“Winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners,” he said on the broadcast. “They’re focusing on me. I’m focusing on history.”
That unshakeable confidence is either infuriating or intoxicating, depending on which side of the McGregor divide you sit. As Ireland’s colors swirled in bright lights around the arena and Sinead O’Connor’s haunting, aching voice rang loud, thousands standing, chanting and screaming at the Garden knew exactly where their allegiances lie.
McGregor strutted to the center of the Octagon, awash in worship, presenting himself to his adoring fans with arms wide open. Before the first bell rang, this was as much a revival as it was a fight—McGregor the modern fistic god who fit this time, this place like a four-ounce glove.
Round 1
5:00-4:00
Wyman: McGregor opened with some light pressure, while Alvarez tested his wide stance with a trio of forceful low kicks, one of which dropped the featherweight champion to the canvas. Feints and probing jabs gauged the range and timing for the Irishman and stuck the smaller Alvarez on the end of his long reach.
Snowden: McGregor’s stance is fascinating. He stands alternately upright and sideways, the beautiful lines of the traditional martial arts just one of his many contributions to MMA‘s aesthetic.
The featherweight champ began looking for the left hand early. Alvarez knew exactly what Conor wanted. Conor, in turn, knew that he knew. What followed then, was a game of skill and daring. And the stakes couldn’t have been higher.
McGregor’s power allows him to pressure and back an opponent down while throwing almost nothing. Soon enough, Alvarez ceded so much ground that a simple front kick pushed him back almost into the cage.
Wyman: Finally, just as the first minute came to a close, Alvarez made his first rush with a lead right hand. McGregor had his range and timing, however, and tagged him with a counter left hand over the top of Alvarez’s right and then a second left hand a moment later. He took a subtle angle as he did this, which gave him access to the unprotected side of the lightweight champion’s head.
4:00-3:00
Snowden: “He got tagged,” announcer Joe Rogan helpfully exclaimed. “He’s hurt…he hurt him bad, Mike.”
It’s not clear, in retrospect, whether Rogan was right. McGregor prioritized ground-and-pound over control, and Alvarez soon escaped to his feet.
Alvarez was on solid footing immediately, even trying a head kick, which is a difficult motor movement for someone who is rattled.
Let’s consider Alvarez shaken, if not stirred. It got his attention, but Alvarez was distinctly still in the fight.
Wyman: The Irishman followed him, turning up the pressure with a series of jabs and an active lead hand. At the 3:30 mark, Alvarez shot his first takedown, but McGregor had done such a masterful job of setting the distance that he had all the time in the world to defend.
Snowden: Alvarez was having serious issues with the range. He attempted to land an uppercut from distance and was met by a short elbow from McGregor, who has a lot of nifty little tricks for someone who is supposed to be such a one-trick fighter.
Dan Henderson he is not.
Wyman: McGregor went back to pumping the jab, though he backed off the pressure. Alvarez tried another lead right, but once again, he ate a forceful left-hand counter and stumbled to the mat.
Snowden: Every time Alvarez worked up the gumption to try to close the distance, he paid a heavy price. If you’re scoring at home, that’s two minutes gone, two left hands delivered and two knockdowns.
3:00-2:00
Snowden: “No one has ever held two UFC titles simultaneously,” announcer Mike Goldberg, perhaps sensing the result to come, told the viewers at home.
McGregor threw a high kick and a leaning left from so far out that it was just begging to be countered. But—and there is no judgement here—Alvarez seemed too timid to risk it.
Wyman: McGregor turned up the pressure from here on out. For the most part, he had been happy to probe with his jab and front kicks and counter when Alvarez committed, but he began leading the dance. A sharp jab-cross caught the lightweight champion cleanly near the fence and knocked him down yet again.
Snowden: It was an amazing sequence for anyone who is interested in how these things happen. McGregor landed a left that left Alvarez unscathed. The punch was delivered from too far away to do much damage. But he followed with a jab and a tiny shuffle forward.
Most MMA fighters are content to plant their feet there and bang. McGregor would rather move forward, an increment that paid off in huge dividends.
That tiny shuffle was the difference between a left hand that leaves you on your feet and one that puts you on your back. That’s where Alvarez found himself over and over again.
Wyman: Following him to the canvas, McGregor maintained his posture and landed a couple of hard shots, but Alvarez intelligently tied up a leg and forced the Irishman to defend. More hard, postured shots followed.
Snowden: The two men ended up in what is called the “69 position.” I’ll leave that to your imagination. But Alvarez was still fighting. When McGregor postured up in order to land heavier shots, Alvarez took the opportunity to move into guard.
I note that if only to remind readers this isn’t some bum with a manufactured record looking for a place to fall down. Alvarez is a good, veteran professional. He’s just not Conor McGregor.
2:00-1:00
Wyman: Alvarez managed to create space, kick off the cage and scramble back to his feet, but he ate a brutal left hand for his troubles. McGregor didn’t let him get comfortable and immediately turned up the pressure, keeping Alvarez against the fence with a series of jabs.
Snowden: With 1:36 remaining in the first round, Alvarez shot in for a takedown. This was expected to be a difference-maker for him. After all, Chad Mendes had taken McGregor down and Nate Diaz had submitted him.
Alvarez, bigger and more experienced than either, was supposed to use wrestling to his advantage. Instead, McGregor not only grabbed an underhook to defend with ease, but he actually went on the attack.
There are no easy answers to the puzzle McGregor presents.
Wyman: On the break, McGregor drove home a sharp knee to the solar plexus and then an elbow. When they got back to range, McGregor led again, tossing out a long lefts. Alvarez tried to counter one of them, but once again, he was too far away.
1:00-0:00
Wyman: Alvarez landed a lead right hand, but McGregor hit a gorgeous backstepping counter left in response. The featherweight champion’s triggers had been razor-sharp and perfectly timed all night, and the threat of the counter put a stop to Alvarez’s offense before it even started.
Snowden: Every time Alvarez threw his right hand, McGregor was there. They hadn’t even fought for five minutes and he had his opponent’s timing down.
Wyman: Finally, around the 30-second mark, Alvarez landed his first body-head combination of the night and managed to avoid a response. A moment later, he landed another clean right hand to the body as McGregor’s left missed.
McGregor jabbed, and Alvarez came in with a counter right hand that landed cleanly. The lightweight champ was starting to get his timing. McGregor is hittable, especially on the counter, and that’s Alvarez’s best skill set.
Snowden: I don’t want to delve into the realm of conspiracy theory, but I had the sense McGregor wanted to do something to bolster Alvarez’s confidence. He had gotten so deep in his own head that he wasn’t engaging—and McGregor needs that activity to give him something to counter.
The round ended with Alvarez tasting his first success and McGregor, for the first time, talking smack to his overmatched foe. That was a thorough whooping, but there was still hope in Alvarez’s native Philadelphia as the bell rang.
Round 2
5:00-4:00
Wyman: Alvarez came out with a sharp kick to the body as the two fighters circled in the middle of the cage, and McGregor replied with a sharp front kick. McGregor blasted Alvarez with a pull counter, hop-stepping backward, planting his feet and throwing a vicious left hand as Alvarez tried a combination that came up short.
The punch staggered Alvarez, but he recovered quickly and slammed another kick to the Irishman’s body.
Snowden: McGregor spent many of the early moments of the second stanza reaching out with his right hand, grabbing and pawing at Alvarez. He was attempting to gauge distance and to distract. And his reach advantage is such that there was little Alvarez can do in return.
At 4:18, following a prescient discussion by Rogan and Goldberg about Alvarez’s wrestling, he shot once again for a takedown. But he was too far away and had no chance of controlling McGregor’s hips.
In his corner between rounds, Team Alvarez had anticipated just that. They asked Eddie to follow up a failed takedown with another shot. Many nascent MMA wrestlers are good at stopping the first shot. It’s sustained chain wrestling that gives them trouble. But McGregor wasn’t willing to cooperate with that course of action, harassing Alvarez with his own attacks in close.
Wyman: As they broke the clinch, McGregor tagged Alvarez with a left hand. He did an excellent job of sneaking in offense—punches, knees and elbows—whenever Alvarez tried to grind him.
4:00-3:00
Snowden: Having dominated the stand-up and shrugged off every takedown attempt with skill and flair, McGregor was feeling it. He put both hands behind his back, clasped, all but begging Alvarez to respond.
His mastery is so complete that he felt all but untouchable—but not so much so that he didn’t quickly spring back to a fighting stance when Alvarez feinted.
For the first time in the fight, McGregor attempted a series of kicks, including an oblique kick and hard sidekicks to the knee and body. You see this a lot in a McGregor fight—as soon as an opponent gets sucked into the understandably intense game of avoiding the left hand, he sneaks in something else out of the blue.
For an opponent, it has to be both exasperating and demoralizing. There is very little winning.
Wyman: Alvarez tried a bit of pressure, leading with combinations, and managed to land a hard right as McGregor got on his bicycle and circled out. That success was short-lived, however, as McGregor countered the next rush. Alvarez tried a shifting right hand, ending up in the southpaw stance, and landed.
He followed McGregor as the Irishman stepped back, but this time, McGregor rolled under, stepped to the outside, and tagged Alvarez’s exposed temple with a gorgeous left hand. Alvarez recovered quickly and managed to tie up McGregor against the fence, but his takedown attempts were going nowhere.
Snowden: You say, “going nowhere.” Goldberg said, “Alvarez looking to embrace the grind.”
Both are correct. Only one attempts to measure quality rather than quantity.
Point: Wyman.
3:00-2:00
Wyman: McGregor’s takedown defense against the fence was impeccable, using his balance, whizzers and head pressure to great effect. Digging for an underhook, McGregor spun out and made Alvarez eat a couple of sharp knees to the body for his trouble.
When they got back into open space, McGregor opened up with jabs, front kicks and a couple of left hands, one of which snapped Alvarez’s head back.
Snowden: The champion, at least, seemed willing to go down fighting.
“Alvarez is getting loose,” Goldberg said. Unfortunately for the lightweight champion, just as he was getting close, he missed a wild right hand, and McGregor countered with the left that would end the fight.
Wyman: Alvarez tried for a forward-moving lead right, but just as he had all night, McGregor cut a slight angle to the inside and planted a vicious left hand on the side of Alvarez’s jaw. He followed with a right hook that popped Alvarez on the nose, then another left that landed behind the ear and finally a second flush right hook.
Snowden: This was fighting as pure art. Disgusting, violent, calamitous art. But art nonetheless. Every sequence that preceded it led to this moment, to McGregor’s left arcing just over Alvarez’s extended hand, his timing so perfect that it’s as if the two punches were thrown simultaneously.
“He’s done,” Rogan yelled. Referee “Big” John McCarthy agreed, stepping in to stop McGregor from wreaking even more havoc on Alvarez.
The series of punches took fewer than two seconds to complete. In those two clicks, Alvarez added an adjective to his title—now just the former champion. McGregor went from loudmouth to legend.
Postscript
Wyman: That was the best performance of McGregor’s career, the culmination of every improvement he’s made over the last several years. An aggressive puncher with a big left hand and a few crafty tricks at the beginning of his tenure, he transformed into a kick-heavy pressure fighter against the likes of Max Holloway and Dennis Siver and then became a swarming wild man to defeat Chad Mendes.
That approach cost him in the first fight with Nate Diaz, but he reshaped himself into a patient counterpuncher for the rematch, and what we saw against Alvarez was the logical development of that path. He can’t drown his opponents in volume the way he did against lesser opponents early in his career, so he has refined his distance-management game with front kicks and a newfound interest in the jab.
That creates a distance too long for his opponents to comfortably cross, so he can either stick them with straight left after straight left or force them to expose themselves to his counterpunching by rushing forward to cover the gap. The latter is becoming his defined preference. Focusing on counters plays off his exceptional timing and sense of the range and allows him to conserve energy, so it makes sense on multiple levels.
Snowden: After the fight, the brilliant martial artist, the man who had just run circles around a UFC champion, exited the stage. In his place, the other McGregor made his presence felt.
No less brilliant a marketer than he is a fighter, McGregor chastised UFC President Dana White for not having two belts for him to pose with postfight. That was the money shot—and only Conor was savvy enough to realize he couldn’t leave the cage without it.
In between boasts and heartfelt thank yous to his legion of fans, McGregor dropped some hard truths on the man still standing in the cage wondering just how his life had gone so wrong.
“Eddie’s a solid competitor,” he told Rogan. “Eddie’s a warrior. But he shouldn’t have been in here with me. And that’s the truth of it.”
Wyman: McGregor was the favorite going into this bout, and many (both of us included) picked him to win. But this was a brutal beating. He dismantled Alvarez in every possible way and, in doing so, showed just how far he’s come as a fighter. Is he unbeatable? No, but if McGregor continues to improve in this fashion, it will take a phenom of a fighter to overcome him.
Jonathan Snowden and Patrick Wyman cover combat sports for Bleacher Report.
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