Eddie Alvarez and Conor McGregor square off at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden, New York, on Saturday night, as the featherweight icon from Ireland steps up to challenge for the Silent Assassin’s UFC lightweight championship.
Notorious arrives after two fights at the current weight class—both against Nate Diaz—and is yet to post the first defence of his featherweight belt since his destruction of Jose Aldo.
Both men carry phenomenal records, with the champion at 28-4-0, and the challenger on 20-3-0.
The fight represents a clash of styles, as Alvarez pits his aggressive offence against McGregor’s finely tuned attack and mobility.
Here is a look at the latest betting numbers, according to Odds Shark.
For the latest ticket information: ScoreBig.com.
McGregor Strives To Become Double-Weight Champion
The critics of the Irish superstar have been fierce since he has failed to defend his title strap since defeating Aldo inside 13 seconds last December.
Instead, the charismatic champion has gone to war with Diaz in the featherweight division and has now decided to prolong his stay in the classification to challenge the versatile Alvarez.
The Underground King has battled through various MMA organisations to become the UFC’s premier lightweight, but McGregor wants to create history by wearing two belts simultaneously.
Alarvez holds victories against a host of star names and former title holders, including Pat Curran, Michael Chandler, Gilbert Melendez, Anthony Pettis and Rafael dos Anjos. He will be hungry to add McGregor to his list of victims.
However, Notorious was bullish ahead of the fight, once again pointing the finger at his detractors, according to Sean Gibson of the Telegraph:
Wherever I choose to go, I’m prepared to go there.
I feel great at this weight (lightweight). Obviously, it’s tougher to get to featherweight, but I think it’s crazy the way they say I can’t get to featherweight no more or all these crazy things. Like I haven’t gone in there and taken out the whole division as early as last year.
Then they’re talking about stripping [my title] and vacating and all this stuff, it’s like hold on a minute — what did I just go and do there? Am I not champion?
I can defend them both [lightweight and featherweight titles]. Vacate? We’ll see about that. I fight every week.
Alarvez’s forcefulness in the Octagon could mean he is ripe for McGregor’s counter-attack, but if the Philadelphia-born fighter lands first, it could be a painful and quick end to the contest.
The lightweight kingpin questioned whether McGregor has the defensive skill to stop him, per Gibson:
This guy is so offensive-minded and never on the defence, that whenever you put him on the defence he gets so flustered and so upset.
At a certain point in our press conference call he got desperate. He started talking about my wife and kids and things like that. That for me is just a sign of desperation.
If we were in a fight and I was putting him on the defence, I looked at this like this man is just closing his eyes throwing “Bolos”. Just to see him cross that, it’s good. It’s a good sign for me.
Alarvez’s assessment is shrewd: Notorious showed increased discipline in his second fight against Diaz, but he is always looking for the spectacular finish. This will play into the champion’s hands if the Irish master doesn’t do the hard work he needs in order to gain an advantage.
The UFC provided a video preview of the championship fight ahead of the battle to become king at 155 pounds:
McGregor heads into the fight as the slight favourite, but Alvarez has the tools to dismantle his opponent.
He is a superior fighter compared to Diaz, who shocked the world by choking out Notorious in an embarrassing second-round defeat at UFC 196.
Notorious’ confidence is always high ahead of a bout, but Alvarez has a steely aggression and impressive variation to get the job done.
McGregor must be at his best to finish the champion, but the longer the fight goes, the more his chances diminish in the latter rounds at the UFC’s first-ever event in Madison Square Garden.
Alvarez is a natural predator at this weight, and he has the all-round game to defeat MvGregor deep into the championship rounds if the fight goes the distance.
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