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UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor (11/12/2016) - New York, NY (Madison Square Garden)


Elsalvajeloco

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6 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Not at all, but I thought if Chad Mendes could take him down, then so could Eddie. But he pretty much gave up on it after the first attempt and was tentative because of Conor's power. Not much in the way of set-ups either from what I recall.

Not sure how much Conor's bad wheel played in that, but Mendes has shown himself to be a much more effective wrestler than Alvarez. It's just that Mendes doing the Koscheck thing and abandoning his wrestling has kinda hid that. Alvarez isn't a wrestleboxer as most people think he is. Not like a Frankie Edgar, who can box your ears off, stay away, and still somehow change levels quickly. Alvarez can get clutch takedowns, but his bread and butter is being able to exchange at a moment's notice. However, that's not a good recipe to fight Conor McGregor. I don't think we need anymore proof of that.

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27 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

At no point...no point...was Eddie Alvarez was in that fight. 

Like I thought before unfortunately.  Just because you beat a dominating champion doesn't really make you one.  I just didn't think Eddie had the consistency to pull off an almost perfect needed fight against Connor and it wasn't close.   

So I guess it is Connor vs Diaz 3 because I figure Dana sees more juice in that then Aldo or even Khabib who should have a chance but probably won't

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3 minutes ago, hammerva said:

So I guess it is Connor vs Diaz 3 because I figure Dana sees more juice in that then Aldo or even Khabib who should have a chance but probably won't

At this point, I don't think the opponent matters. If this fight against Alvarez did really big business, he can fight a broomstick and basically get a similar number.

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I know this isn't a 1:1 comparison so don't throw things at me, but I wonder if Conor will be like Jones in that unless someone has a reach advantage on him they have little chance of winning. Conor is too good at stuffing takedowns and with his long arms/jab accuracy he is hard to get into. Obviously there are many other factors, but by a few minutes into the first round it became pretty clear that Eddie wasn't going to find a way to win.

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Whether it was the lefts he took in round 1 or McGregor being in his head or a combination of the two, Alvarez looked like he was seeing ghosts for the first 3 minutes of round 2. 

EDIT; Just saw his post fight interview. The man looked broken, completely and utterly broken. 

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McGregor has a crazy combination of devastating, bone-crushing power, and pin-point accuracy that is going to be really hard to beat.  Being able to drop fighters with battle tested, rock-solid chins with one shot, like Nate Diaz and Jose Aldo, means you can probably drop anyone with one shot.  Add the ability to put that power exactly on the point of the chin is really gilding the lily.  His takedown defense, toughness, and speed are also elite.  I think Aldo can beat him, Ferguson is a really interesting challenge, and Khabib may have the wrestling skills to take him down and keep him down.  I think he can knock any of those dudes out with one shot, and basically no one else at featherweight or lightweight has a shot.

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4 hours ago, peterien said:

Whether it was the lefts he took in round 1 or McGregor being in his head or a combination of the two, Alvarez looked like he was seeing ghosts for the first 3 minutes of round 2. 

EDIT; Just saw his post fight interview. The man looked broken, completely and utterly broken. 

Eddie was knocked out on the first KD of the fight. The first punch rocked him, and the lights were turned out on the second punch that sent him down. So I am not that shocked about how Eddie fought the rest of the fight because he was definitely concussed. In hindsight, BJM could have stopped it at anytime after that just for Alvarez's health and safety.

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57 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Eddie was knocked out on the first KD of the fight. The first punch rocked him, and the lights were turned out on the second punch that sent him down. So I am not that shocked about how Eddie fought the rest of the fight because he was definitely concussed. In hindsight, BJM could have stopped it at anytime after that just for Alvarez's health and safety.

I could make a pretty good argument that Eddie's heart wasn't in it once he stepped into the cage, but after that first punch and the stuffed takedown attempts it was clear he wanted to be anywhere else in the world other than in that cage with Conor. I have to admit to being a little surprised, but I've learned over the years that whenever I think Eddie is going to surprise me and win a fight that he seemingly ought to lose, he will manage to not surprise me at all. 

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16 minutes ago, OSJ said:

I could make a pretty good argument that Eddie's heart wasn't in it once he stepped into the cage, but after that first punch and the stuffed takedown attempts it was clear he wanted to be anywhere else in the world other than in that cage with Conor. I have to admit to being a little surprised, but I've learned over the years that whenever I think Eddie is going to surprise me and win a fight that he seemingly ought to lose, he will manage to not surprise me at all. 

He was essentially knocked out on his feet after the first KD. His eyes rolled in the back of his head as you can see on the replay. I think the only way Eddie would have survived to make it to the championship rounds is if Conor just completely backed off. Alvarez tried to move forward, but there was very little on those punches once all his energy was zapped on the first knockdown. It's not like McGregor was landed these glancing shots that hurt him. Everything he landed on Alvarez that shook him up was clean. His heart was clearly in this because he still recovered after being knocked out, but Conor made sure it wasn't a factor at all. A fighter prone to getting touched and flash knockdowns isn't going to turn into this brilliant defensive fighter overnight. Everything that makes Alvarez a really great, scintillating fighter (especially prior his entrance to the UFC) was something McGregor would inevitably feast on.

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Looked like Eddies head was gone before the fight. Stumbling over his words at the weigh in. Getting into altercations with the crowd after his interview. Generally looking tired and bruised.

 

Dont think Conor wants any of Khabib. Felt sorry for Johnson watching him try and squirm and crawl away from that monster ...

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He might've had a concussion and fought anyway.  As bad as it sounds, fighters have done that.  One has to imagine all the undiagnosed concussions fighters might get in training alone.  Eddie had a bad one in the past that prevented his second rematch with Michael Chandler.  

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Thought Karolina had the beating of Joanna. Joanna was striking in 4 beat flurries with the jab cross low kicks so had higher numbers, but thought Karolina looked more assured. Which is surprising, as I expected Joanna to dominate.

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Apparently the second belt they gave Conor was actually Tyron Woodley's Welterweight title. So Woodley should demand a Conor fight before the Wonderboy rematch.

Also, as far as not throwing a punch at a guy with his hands behind his back, I can see why Alvarez did that. He was getting eaten alive with counterpunches all fight long. But why would you not shoot a double on the guy with no arms to block you with?

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6 minutes ago, Charlie M. said:

It was a very brief moment. It's not like Conor was doing the Anderson Silva thing where he was actually letting Bonnar hit him in the face.

Conor's entire fight strategy is to get you to do something he can counter.  He keeps his hands down and chin up, because he wants to counter a big right hand with his left.  Another thing he does is constantly paw at his opponent's lead hand, which makes them hesitant to throw it.  He also throws a decent amount of off-speed punches, that sets up his big power shots.  If you watch closely, you will see that he stands southpaw, but shifts his shoulders to be more of an orthodox stance.  It puts his power hand much closer to his opponent, which is one of the reasons he's so accurate, but shifts his shoulders back when he throws hard.  When his left shoulder is forward he hits you with a quick, stiff, jabs that makes you think you can deal with his punches.  Then he pulls back and destroys you with a big left.  That shoulder shift is why his head movement is so good too.  Head movement is a game of inches.  The more space your head can travel within you stance, the better your head movement will be.  The problem he got with Diaz is pretty much the same reason he's so good defensively.  Diaz is a tall guy with a long reach, who knows how to throw punches with his feet under him, while leaning forward, back, and side to side in a way that keeps him in his punching range, but outside of his opponents.  McGregor has a reach advantage over just about everyone he's going to fight which makes his style even more dificult to figure out.  So his feet are showing you one thing, his shoulders are showing you something else,he's very hard to hit, and he seems to be able to hit you with every single shot he throws.  Add the fact that he can seemingly knock anyone unconscious, that is a very hard fighter to beat.  

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