To say that UFC 205 is stacked would be an understatement. Spearheading this event will be a classic in the making as current UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor attempts to make history and hold two titles at once when he challenges Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title in the main event of UFC 205. During
To say that UFC 205 is stacked would be an understatement. Spearheading this event will be a classic in the making as current UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor attempts to make history and hold two titles at once when he challenges Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title in the main event of UFC 205.
During a recent interview with MMA Junkie,McGregor claimed that the event would not only do massive business for the largest MMA promotion in the world, but it would set a PPV record.
“I’m almost certain we’re talking the 2-million mark,” McGregor said. “I feel it will break the 2-million mark. That’s what I’d like, and then go from there.”
Three titles will be on the line at this event as Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson for the welterweight title and Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz for the women’s strawweight title are featured on the main card of this event.
You also have Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman, Donald Cerrone vs. Kelvin Gastelum, and Raquel Pennington vs. Miesha Tate rounding out the main card. The prelims are great as well.
The biggest UFC PPV buyrate is UFC 202, which did 1.65 million buys and was headlined by McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 2. The second biggest UFC PPV buyrate is UFC 196, which did 1.6 million in March and headlined by McGregor vs. Diaz 1, and third best PPV buyrate was UFC 100 in July of 2009 that was headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir 2.
“(It will break the record) 100 percent – I think the money is there,” McGregor said. “For UFC 202, they backed it with no money. UFC 200 is where the advertising dollars went. UFC 202 was worth double what they spent in advertising dollars. UFC 202 broke the pay-per-view record with very little push. A very, very weak undercard. Now you have me, you have New York, you have history and you have many factors. They’re pushing the advertising dollars on it.”
UFC 205 will take place at Madison Square Garden on November 12th with the main card airing on PPV and the prelims airing on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Jose Aldo has made it clear that he’s not happy with the UFC. In fact, the former longtime featherweight champion, who’s outraged that he wasn’t granted a rematch with Conor McGregor after winning the interim title last July, recently said that he no longer has interest in fighting and that he hopes the promotion releases
Jose Aldo has made it clear that he’s not happy with the UFC. In fact, the former longtime featherweight champion, who’s outraged that he wasn’t granted a rematch with Conor McGregor after winning the interim title last July, recently said that he no longer has interest in fighting and that he hopes the promotion releases him from his contract.
UFC President Dana White recently gave his thoughts on the situation:
“Listen, I can’t make anybody fight anybody. I can do the best I can to put together fights and make them happen. Jose Aldo and I will get together probably next week and we’ll talk about this,” White told “UFC Tonight” on Wednesday.
“I think he’s being a little ridiculous about this.”
Aldo has been hell bent on getting another shot at McGregor ever since the Irishman brutally knocked him out cold at December 2015’s UFC 194 from Las Vegas, but McGregor has instead venture out of the division for big money fights.
White, however, said that there are other intriguing fights for Aldo to take in the featherweight division:
“I’ll get him a fight. I’ll get him a fight all day long,” White said. “If you look at that division, it’s stacked. (Max) Holloway is ready, he wants to fight. Anthony Pettis is in that division now. There’s a lot of talented guys there that he can fight.
“I can’t make Conor McGregor fight anybody. Obviously everybody wants the fight. I’m waiting for Joanna Jedrzejczyk to call out Conor McGregor next. Everybody wants to fight Conor.”
Who’s side are you on here? Does Aldo have a right to feel the way he does?
Heading in to the monster UFC 205 pay-per-view in New York, there’s a ton of interesting questions regarding the main event. Eddie Alvarez will attempt his first title defense against a fellow champion, ‘The Notorious’ 145-pound boss Conor McGregor. After competing twice against Nate Diaz in the welterweight division, McGregor once again fights outside the
Heading in to the monster UFC 205 pay-per-view in New York, there’s a ton of interesting questions regarding the main event. Eddie Alvarez will attempt his first title defense against a fellow champion, ‘The Notorious’ 145-pound boss Conor McGregor. After competing twice against Nate Diaz in the welterweight division, McGregor once again fights outside the featherweight bracket at the historic Madison Square Garden. The first UFC event on New York soil could well prove to be the biggest of all-time.
Standing on the brink of becoming the first champion to hold belts in two weight classes at once, the Irish striker has also faced some adversity this past week. The Nevada Athletic Commission held another kangaroo court, this time handing down an outrageous $150K fine to McGregor. The NAC was looking to punish ‘The Notorious’ for the infamous UFC 202 bottle throwing incident. Responding to the commission yesterday, McGregor claimed he wouldn’t be paying them a dime.
Jose Aldo
Speaking during a Facebook Q & A with The Lad Bible, Conor McGregor addressed a number of current topics in the fight game. After Jose Aldo, the man McGregor KO’d in 13 seconds at UFC 194, announced he doesn’t want to fight for the UFC anymore, and the confirmation of his lightweight title fight, ‘The Notorious’ had a lot to say.
“I don’t think (Jose Aldo) wants the rematch. I think he’s happy with this feud, this get out clause. I knocked him out, then he came back and won the decision, has the interim belt. I think he wants to separate himself, to have this feud. He doesn’t want this again.”
Alvarez
Coming in to this huge champions main event at UFC 205, Conor McGregor says he’s been preparing against fighters with Eddie Alvarez’s style his entire career:
“I’ve been facing that style my whole life. It’s easy, it’s a lot better for me. You don’t have to source out these taller, bigger training partners. There’s a million training partners who replicate this opponent’s style. I’m very happy with it. We’ve continued on the cardio vascular, we’ve been monitoring that very closely. As I’m coming down to 155 I’m shredding up, I was stuffing my face to even make 168 before. My VO2 max has improved, I’m feeling good.”
“I don’t think (Alvarez) poses any threat. He’s a tough kid, he’s got some good fights and experience, but he’ll be out. It’s over, he knows it, his team knows it. My fist is bigger than this guy’s head. When it connects, he’ll be unconscious. It’ll be early, and it’ll be devastating.”
UFC 205 Fight Card
Eddie Alvarez vs. Conor McGregor (for Alvarez’s lightweight belt) Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson (for Woodley’s welterweight belt) Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz (for Jedrzejczyk’s strawweight belt) Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Michael Johnson Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman Donald Cerrone vs. Kelvin Gastelum Raquel Pennington vs. Miesha Tate Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens Rashad Evans vs. Tim Kennedy Tim Boetsch vs. Rafael Natal Thiago Alves vs. Jim Miller Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad Liz Carmouche vs. Katlyn Chookagian
As many know by now, former UFC featherweight king (and current UFC interim featherweight champion) Jose Aldo is currently calling to be released from his contract with the promotion, after current 145-pound title-holder Conor McGregor has decided to go after a second title in the 155-pound division rather than defend the title he won from
As many know by now, former UFC featherweight king (and current UFC interim featherweight champion) Jose Aldo is currently calling to be released from his contract with the promotion, after current 145-pound title-holder Conor McGregor has decided to go after a second title in the 155-pound division rather than defend the title he won from Aldo in December.
Aldo earned the right to fight McGregor when he defeated Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 via unanimous decision, and the plan was for the Brazilian to meet ‘Notorious’ once again to unify the two belts and settle their differences once and for all.
Now, however, McGregor will instead me matched up with current lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez for the 155-pound crown, giving the Irishman the opportunity to make history by becoming the first fighter in UFC history to hold two titles in different weight classes simultaneously; all while doing so in front of a sell out crowd inside the legendary Madison Square Garden arena.
Shortly after hearing this announcement, the former longtime 145-pound king had reached his breaking point with UFC President Dana White, who he says has been making false promises to him for months now regarding a rematch with McGregor, and has called for his release from his UFC contract.
During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Aldo’s head-coach Andre Pederneiras stated that he tried to talk his fighter out of making an emotional decision:
“I tried to use arguments so that he’d think about it because I think sometimes you make emotional decisions and end up regretting them,” Pederneiras said. “I told him to think about it so we could talk. I’ve been talking to him since, but his mind is made up. I can’t tell him ‘You’re doing it because I want you to do it. Aren’t I like a father? So I’m ordering you to do it.’ I won’t do that.”
“I think they lacked truth in the situation,” Pederneiras said. “When you promise something and you don’t deliver, you can even get a new chance – but the problem was the number of times it happened. I’m(UFC President) Dana White’s biggest defender. I always tell my athletes we need to trust him, because what he and Lorenzo (Fertitta, former UFC CEO) did for the sport – I don’t think anyone else could have.
“But I can’t defend him and then just let him off the hook. Just because I’m friends with him and I like him and I appreciate what he’s done for the sport doesn’t mean I’ll say he’s right about everything. The situation with Aldo, specifically – the UFC acted totally wrong.”
One key point for Aldo not getting the rematch with McGregor is the fact that the Brazilian doesn’t ‘sell’ enough. Pederneiras addressed this distinction, stating that it isn’t necessarily Aldo’s fault that he isn’t a major draw:
“I think there’s something that wasn’t built correctly in the UFC,”Pederneiras said. “Just because they built the UFC, doesn’t mean that everything they do is right. (The word promoter) entails promoting the event and the athlete. How many big athletes has the UFC made to sell more than 1 million pay-per-views?
“And how many athletes does the UFC have? Is it Aldo’s fault that he doesn’t sell? Is it Aldo’s fault because he doesn’t speak English? Don’t the others speak English? And do they sell? Weren’t they champions? Why don’t they sell? Is it the fighter’s fault, or the promotion’s?
“Taking the blame from me and placing it on you – that’s the best of worlds, isn’t it? I, the promotor, have 500 people, and only two or three sell. Am I a good promoter, or is it the athlete’s fault? I can be wrong with one, but with 497? Aldo never refused to do promotion. He was traveling all over with (McGregor) for 10 days. He unfortunately broke his rib and the fight didn’t happen.
“I don’t want a weight that Aldo doesn’t deserve to carry to be thrown upon him – a guy who did what few did in the UFC.”
Photo courtesy of UFC.com
Aldo and Pederneiras will sit down with the UFC this week to discuss Aldo’s future, which Pederneiras insists is his fighter walking away from the sport altogether:
“We’re going to sit down and talk and explain he doesn’t want it anymore,” Pederneiras said. “He doesn’t want to fight in the UFC anymore. Forget any athlete you can think of. His idea is to stop. Not Pettis, not Jon Jones, no one.”
“The problem is that Aldo still has six fights on his contract. And today’s situation might be different tomorrow. I told him, ‘We need to resolve this situation today, because now you want to do something with soccer. But then if tomorrow you change, say tomorrow comes with a truckload of money and you’ll have to say no because you’re still under contract with the UFC.’”
Pederneiras was then asked if Aldo would accept an offer to fight for another MMA promotion if he is relieved of his contract, to which the Brazilian’s head-coach adamantly shot down:
“Today, no way,” Pederneiras said. “Aldo has a stable life right now. But life changes. I have personal experience with that. My father worked at a bank and was the guy below the bank’s owner. He had a leg problem and was (expletive) from one day to the other with five kids. So, Aldo is doing great, but say something changes and he desperately needs to fight? He’s stuck to a contract. But his idea is to never fight MMA again.”
When asked just how strict Aldo’s contract is, Pederneiras stated the contract is so binding that Aldo isn’t even contractualy allowed to attend shows at Shooto (Pederneiras’ owned MMA promotion):
“There are many things that he can’t do,” Pederneiras said. “For instance – contractually, he couldn’t even visit Shooto (Pederneiras’ own MMA promotion). He can’t be at a different event. They allow him because he’s my friend, but contractually he couldn’t.
“Now, Dana is in charge. But if tomorrow someone else comes, and then they read the contract and see him there and think, ‘What is this guy doing there? I’m going to sue him.’ Things are changing. (The UFC) has a new owner. I think Dana will stick around for a while, but I don’t think he’ll be in the UFC forever. He already has other priorities. Back in the day, I can’t remember an event without Dana there.”
Aldo is one of the biggest names the sport of MMA has ever seen, however, Pederneiras finds it hard to believe any true change will come with Aldo’s fighting back regarding his contract situation:
“It’s hard to say because there are new people coming in, I don’t know what they think,” Pederneiras said. “Dana is with them, and I think he’ll be able to say how the market is going.
“But I think the final decision is no longer in his hands. There are other people. So we don’t know what will happen. We’re going there to see what happens and resolve this situation.”
After the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) fined him a staggering $150,000 for his bottle-throwing incident at a UFC 202 pre-fight press conference in Las Vegas, Dana White recently revealed that featherweight champion Conor McGregor no longer wanted to fight in the State of Nevada again. Now, “The Notorious” is back to confirm the sentiment,
After the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) fined him a staggering $150,000 for his bottle-throwing incident at a UFC 202 pre-fight press conference in Las Vegas, Dana White recently revealed that featherweight champion Conor McGregor no longer wanted to fight in the State of Nevada again.
Now, “The Notorious” is back to confirm the sentiment, declaring he’d now rather fight in New York City, where he’ll meet lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in the main event of November 12’s UFC 205, in an interview with Rolling Stone:
“I don’t see Nevada in my future, for the foreseeable future is how I see it,” McGregor says. “I’m free to do what I want. … I’m good. I’m good. New York, New York. That’s what I think.”
Taking an accepting attitude of his punishment, McGregor called into the NSAC hearing and was apologetic, believing the stance would aid his plight. But the NSAC, who have long been ‘notorious’ in their own right for handing out ridiculous suspensions and fines, had other ideas. His initial requested fine of $25,000 went up to five percent of his whopping $3 million purse for UFC 202.
The Irish star thought they would respect his agreement, but instead ‘fired the rounds off first’ in his opinion. That established, McGregor wished the NSAC good luck in obtaining the money from him:
“I thought they might respect [me calling in] a little bit more. I owned up. I manned up. I’m here. I apologized. I’m not trying to blame nobody, although they fired the rounds off first. I didn’t think they would even go that route because I didn’t think this was like a real thing. Are they going to come and arrest me or what the fuck is that? I wanted to give them the respect and I felt they would have respected that but they didn’t. So, whatever. It is what it is. Good luck trying to get it.”
Although he defeated Diaz by close majority decision at the record-breaking UFC 202, both men put on one of the best fights of the year and delivered the reported highest-grossing UFC pay-per-view (PPV) of all time in the process. They obviously made millions in the process, and McGregor doesn’t want Diaz’ money to go the commission just like he doesn’t want to give them his:
“I do not wish to see Nate get any more or any less than me,” McGregor said. “I don’t want to see either of us have something like this happen. But we’ll see. I don’t know. If they went that way on me I don’t know what way they’re going to go on him. He threw the bottle first, but I don’t wish he get more than me or anything like that. I just wish we’d get it sorted out and get on with it and carry on.”
‘Notorious’ offered his own specific view of the scene in closing, reaffirming his wishes at the NSAC actually getting the fine money:
“Respect to them. They wanted me to pay them and work for them at the same time. How can I not respect that? Good luck to them.”
So the gloves are off between Conor McGregor and the NSAC. Let’s just hope there aren’t any loose cans of Monster Energy Drink nearby.
For Rashad Evans, competing in his home state of New York has always been a dream.
Now, “Suga” gets his chance to fulfill that quest, as he makes the move to middleweight vs. Tim Kennedy next month at UFC 205.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion appeared on “UFC Tonight” Wednesday to discuss why he wants to fight in Madison Square Garden – where so many of the legends have made a name for themselves in the past.
“It’s huge for me. My whole career, I wanted to fight in New York,” he said. “To be part of something historic, is great for me. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazer fought there.”
As for getting back on track, Evans has re-located himself to a new gym after admitting he “lost focus” while training with the Blackzilians.
“I’ve been training at Belfort’s Training Center. At the Blackzilians, I lost focus on what I needed,” he said. “I still go there and I’ve got ties to the team. I want to make sure I have hands-on focus and I’m getting what Rashad needs, not what the team needs.”
For Rashad Evans, competing in his home state of New York has always been a dream.
Now, “Suga” gets his chance to fulfill that quest, as he makes the move to middleweight vs. Tim Kennedy next month at UFC 205.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion appeared on “UFC Tonight” Wednesday to discuss why he wants to fight in Madison Square Garden – where so many of the legends have made a name for themselves in the past.
“It’s huge for me. My whole career, I wanted to fight in New York,” he said. “To be part of something historic, is great for me. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazer fought there.”
As for getting back on track, Evans has re-located himself to a new gym after admitting he “lost focus” while training with the Blackzilians.
“I’ve been training at Belfort’s Training Center. At the Blackzilians, I lost focus on what I needed,” he said. “I still go there and I’ve got ties to the team. I want to make sure I have hands-on focus and I’m getting what Rashad needs, not what the team needs.”
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During a recent interview with 
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