The official UFC 205 fight card is looking pretty stacked right about now. Amid a storm of huge announcements last week, the main event spectacle of Eddie Alvarez vs. Conor McGregor was revealed.
Confirming what had been rumoured for many weeks prior, the UFC set in motion a sequence of events that could change MMA forever. Outraged that he wouldn’t be getting a rematch with McGregor, interim champion Jose Aldo retired.
More Than Just One Fight
Pitting Conor McGregor against the lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez is pivotal in many ways. The UFC will attempt to draw in record viewers for their first show in New York City, but it’s more than just the fight.
The future of the worlds largest MMA promotion seems to be headed down the entertainment route. Allowing McGregor to go a third straight fight without defending his 145-pound belt has clearly shown the UFC is all about that cash flow.
UFC 205 Presser
In line with their current incentives, the UFC put on a colourful pre-sale press conference for the NYC show. The stars of the November 12 pay-per-view hit the stage, but of course it was all about McGregor and Alvarez.
‘The Notorious’ was up to his old tricks again, riling the partisan crowd who joined in mocking the lightweight champ. Alvarez seemed amused at the boos from the fans. McGregor was making all kinds of brash statements, and the Irish-heavy crowd were eating it up.
Mind Games
Playing a huge part in every rivalry, mental warfare is one of Conor McGregor’s primary tactics. Before facing off in the octagon, the outspoken Irish star tries to burrow in to the psyche of his opponents.
With Jose Aldo before UFC 194, this tactic worked in abundance. With Eddie Alvarez, it didn’t really seem to bother him at their first confrontation. The lightweight champion recently appeared on The MMA Hour to discuss his UFC 205 opponent, and sounded cool as a cucumber.
“He has a lot of WWE fans”
“Dana was putting the belt on him, and I told him ‘yeah, give him the little boy belt.’ So he took that little boy belt, and he got mad about that, that pissed him off a little bit that he had the smaller weight class belt. And he puffed his chest out, tightened his pants a little bit, and he got real tall.”
“Given the reaction to that crowed, yeah. It kinda was weird, I definitely didn’t expect that as far as the boo’s. It sort of reiterated to me what his fanbase is. His fanbase is him, there are people who — it’s all perception. It seems like he has a lot of WWE fans, like guys who don’t know nothing about fighting at all.
They just like him, so you can have them fans, they aren’t the fans I want anyway. I’ll get boo’d all day long because I don’t want a fan who doesn’t know shit about MMA, I rather have a fan who knows the sport, enjoys the sport and can see value.”
“Man, we’ll have to see. Fight’s are unpredictable, we’re not sure what’s gonna happen. I’d be lying, just like he is, if i went and spit something out. He made his prediction after I got him angry. It’s a tall tale sign that his prediction was forced and wasn’t something he thought, he just made it up because he got angry. You guys will all see the image on November 12th, and it will be a beautiful image.”
