Payday is ‘millions’
After McGregor claims that Alvarez he didn’t negotiate a big payday, Alvarez says that he is being paid ‘millions’ for the fight.
I’m happy with the money I’m ready to make. I think you have to be able to earn the right to draw a line in the sand and be able to say ‘this is what I want,’ and I think fighters need to be prepared to walk if that’s the case. … It wasn’t one I was willing to walk away from at this time. I wasn’t going to sit there and nickel and dime the UFC about negotiating the deal. The deal was good. [A ballpark figure is] millions.
‘Not threatened’ by McGregor
Alvarez says that he is not threatened by McGregor.
Usually when I square off with a man, my heart rate goes up, I feel something. I never felt so unthreatened by a human being as when I was up on a stage with him. That’s the God’s honest truth. I’ve never felt so unthreatened. [Other fighters] have a well-rounded skill set and even if the fight goes to another realm of MMA, from standing up, to ground, to jiu-jitsu, everyone is tough in each one. They’re well versed, to the point where they can hang with some of the toughest guys in the world in any aspect of the sport. And I don’t think [McGregor] can, from what I’ve seen…The conditioning aspect is just not a good level of conditioning. The last Nate Diaz fight was a very big eye opener for me.
Roddy: McGregor’s leg is 100%, predicts UFC 205 KO victory
Striking coach Owens says McGregor’s leg is fine:
He (Conor) was back in the gym moving about two days afterwards in Vegas. You saw the amount of kicks he threw in the Diaz fight and he obviously just caught a few of them on the knee and he just really badly bruised his shin. There was no serious issue with the foot. I think they found a small fracture from a while back but it was nothing. The shin itself was really bashed up from after the fight, but within a couple of days he was back training and moving around. There’s no issues there and he’s 100% – he was a couple of days after.
And that McGregor will win easily against Alvarez:
No disrespect to Alvarez – he’s a great fighter, but he moves very similar to a lot of the guys that Conor has fought. Even when Conor has fought strikers, they’ve all become that type of fighter – when Conor lands they become a panicked wrestler. That’s what’s going to happen. Conor lands clean and when it comes to a few exchanges Alvarez is going to feel the difference in accuracy and power and he’s going to try and wrestle…Alvarez is a great wrestler so there will be stuff we will be working on with Conor to make sure Alvarez can’t keep ahold of him and can’t keep him against the fence. Conor is going to land and it’s going to be a matter of time before Alvarez goes to sleep to be totally honest.
McGregor-Alvarez ‘You’re Next’ promo video
Fight Promo releases a promo video for McGregor vs Alvarez at Madison Square Garden.
Cerrone: McGregor ‘sucks’
Cerrone comments on McGregor-Alvarez:
That’s not a good fight because Conor sucks. Eddie is smart. He won’t get caught up in all of the dramatics of it. He’ll just go in there and take him down, f-cking wrestle him and f-cking submit him! Easy work…Conor is good at getting you emotionally involved. So, I think you just go out there, take him down, and f-cking end him quick.
Calls McGregor’s defence ‘atrocious’
Alvarez says McGregor’s defence is weak.
I can tell you first-hand that Conor McGregor and the things he says are actually funny and I have no problem laughing at them. I’m not going to get angry. Funny is funny. [His offence is good] but his defence is atrocious… he doesn’t move his head. His best attribute is his reactionary time. A guy like me, I can go wherever. I can kick, I can punch, I can f-cking submit and I can do it all f-cking night…I’ll do whatever the f-ck I want, in any aspect against him. If I want to stand.. I’ll stand, he don’t move his head, he gets hit a tonne
The reason that Conor is [my] target is that every time I beat someone, like a fighter like a Rafael dos Anjos or a Gilbert Melendez, who is actually a legend in this sport and is proven over years to be the best, I get asked about Conor McGregor and it’s kinda annoying so after a while I started being honest with people and telling them what I think…I was being honest with the media saying that I’ve literally fought the best guys in the world back-to-back, and I could use a fight that’s better for me stylistically. And I’m saying that being completely honest with myself and the fans…when you bring anger and all these emotions to a press conference… I think it’s not who you are… I just think being myself up there is the most important.
White: McGregor to make ‘left field’ announcement after 205
White says there is a deeper reason to giving McGregor the fight against Alvarez.
Listen, I battled this thing forever. Not only is it not fair to Jose Aldo, it’s not fair to Khabib and Max Holloway. So, believe me, I battled with this thing but there are… how can I say this? There are other circumstances involved in this that will be played out after the fight. It’s something completely out of left field but it’s Conor’s business, it’s not mine, and I’ll let Conor announce it when he’s ready to.
White: McGregor must relinquish title on UFC 205 win
White says that if McGregor defeats Alvarez for the Lightweight Championship at UFC 205 in New York, he will have to relinquish one of his titles before moving forward.
He wants to try to gain both belts and he will give up one of the titles after that fight in New York…He’s got some stuff going on right now, some personal stuff that I’m sure he’ll announce when he’s ready. But this fight made sense.
UFC 205 Face Off
McGregor and Alvarez face off at the UFC 205 press conference.
UFC 205 press conference
White introduces McGregor and Alvarez at the UFC 205 press conference. McGregor, on his value to the company:
4.2 billion dollars that’s what I’m worth to this company!
On his earnings:
[For UFC 202] $25 million baby! I feel by the time 2016 closes out I’ll be closing out on $40 million. This has been a good year for me.
On the move to Lightweight:
I’m very happy with the 155 pound weight limit. Of all the divisions I’ve ran through and around I feel 155 will be the one where I take over the most. So I look forward to that…I’m gonna put one belt on one shoulder, and the other belt on the other shoulder. You’re gonna need a f-ckin’ army to take those belts off of me…
Is Mystic Mac back?
I have nothing against Edward…I run New York. I run this whole shit, and Mystic Mac predicts I’m going to KO you in one round!..The Irish built this town. We built this damn city. Now we’re taking it back. I’m going to take out one of your own. But make no mistake, it’s all love.
He’s chinny. He has a chin. He gets cracked. He gets dropped. He’s a weathered fighter. He’s on his way out. He’s very lucky to be in the position he is in…One round it will take me to knock him out. This guy’s a balloon. He’s gonna be shooting panic. And that’s all she wrote!
Update on leg:
That fight was five weeks ago. I cam e out of that fight fresher than I wnt in. Look at Nate’s face. Nate will never look the same. I looked the same. I had a bruised foot…I was chillin here waiting for the call, and then the call came last minute, and I jumped on a plane. I’m brand new…I said it out straight ‘Beg me’, and they begged me.
On Alvarez:
He didn’t even negotiate new money for himself. Imagine that. Look at everyone up here. This is a lottery fight. They all dressed like me, they all talk like me. They all trying to to be me. Everyone in the game wants this fight. And this man took it on his last contract. Imagine getting the biggest fight in the history of the game, and saying shut your mouth kid you;re getting paid what you got paid what you got paid for your last fight…He’s just another broke bum, trying to sell some shit. Just another broke bum who can’t pay his bills…You’re blessed that I chose you. You’re blessed that I choose to whoop your ass.
Alvarez:
You ain’t got a shot. You’re here because you’re the easiest dude in this division.
Anger at McGregor-Alvarez fight announcement
Nurmagomedov says that, despite being sent two separate contracts for a title shot against Alvarez at UFC 205 and UFC 206, he has been used as a negotiating tool in order to get the real UFC 205 main event over the line.
When I signed agreement with @UFC it was sport. Now it became a freak show, or I don’t know how to call it right. Only thing that keeping me in this cracking sport, is that I don’t want to stop on the halfway, I wasn’t raised like this, not a quiter. I’ll keep moving forward InshaAllah.
I have two bout agreements that bullshit champ refuses to sign. I got used the whole time to make Conor and Eddie get on their knees and beg
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) September 27, 2016
Just for the record @Ealvarezfight and @TheNotoriousMMA fear me I'm just a man. Your time will come to get my hands on you
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) September 27, 2016
McGregor-Alvarez confirmed for UFC 205
UFC confirms that McGregor will meet Alvarez on November 12th in Madison Square Garden for a fight for the lightweight title.
White wants McGregor-Aldo, Nurmagomedov-Alvarez
White says he plans to have Alvarez defend his belt against Nurmagomedov, and McGregor to defend his belt against Aldo. Nurmagomedov says he has signed two contracts to fight Alvarez: one for UFC 205 in New York in November and another to fight him at UFC 206 in Toronto in December. However, Alvarez wants to fight McGregor, and McGregor appears to want to fight Alvarez. Reports of a McGregor injury affecting the fight are dismissed by White:
Conor’s foot is hurt, but he thinks he can fight. I want him to fight Aldo.
Nurmagomedov:
Alvarez wants to fight McGregor, because it’s an easy fight and it’s a lot of money to fight him. But he has to fight me. Dana White has told me, ‘He is fighting you. He has to fight you.’ His record is only 2-1 in the UFC and he loses like a chicken to Cowboy [Cerrone]. How did he even get a title shot? I don’t know why he is so scared to fight me…I would have to be careful in the first [round] because he does punch hard. In the second, I would start to catch him and in the third, I’d finish him. Mentally, he’s already lost to me…All I want is 25 minutes in the cage with Alvarez…Put me in a cage somewhere with him and lock the door. Then I can show the world who the best really is.
Alvarez: Asking for too much money story ‘a lie’
Alvarez says he did not ask for too much money in negotiations with McGregor.
this is a lie , please don't report llies , You guys are awesome , keep it Real! Thank you #ufc205 #phillyfighter #
— Eddie Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) September 22, 2016
Adding to the reports, MMAFighting’s Helwani says that Alvarez did not even receive an offer to fight McGregor
Reports that Alvarez asked for more money to fight McGregor, thus ruining the deal, are not true, per sources. He has yet to be offered it.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 23, 2016
Nurmagomedov: McGregor vs. Alvarez would be ‘No. 1 bulls**t’
Nurmagomedov says he should be given the title shot against Alvarez, not McGregor.
I want to fight at 205 in New York, maybe fight with Eddie Alvarez. I love this fight. I want to fight for the belt. All fans, coaches, fighters, analytics, everybody agrees and knows who deserves this title shot. I deserve it. I am No. 1 ranked. Why UFC put me on No. 1 ranking if they don’t want to give me title shot? Why do they make rankings? Conor McGregor fights in the UFC in a lighter division and the UFC wants to give him title shot? I think this is No. 1 bullshit. They cannot give him a title shot because he’s never fought with the top guys, like top five, top 10 in the lightweight division, and they want to give him title shot?..I’m still focused. If the UFC gives him a title shot, it’s okay. I’m a little bit not happy and at the same time I’m a little bit happy, because if the UFC gives him a title shot and he becomes lightweight champion and I win somebody like a top five guy, then we have to fight and he has to fight with me.
Schaub: Alvarez wanted more money to fight McGregor
Schaub says Alvarez would not fight McGregor at UFC 205 because UFC will not pay him enough, and it is likely that McGregor will have to fight Nurmagomedov, and Alvarez will miss UFC 205.
From what I hear, Eddie Alvarez was complaining to the UFC brass that he wanted more money to fight Conor McGregor. He wanted pay-per-view points, he wanted a certain amount of money and the UFC, you know Joe Silva’s going out on his shield, were like, you wanna do what? Looking at the whole picture… if Conor wants that 155 belt, now he’s gotta get through Khabib Nurmagomedov. Who’s gonna beat that guy? Unless he beats himself. Unless he gets injured, no one’s beating that guy. I don’t see it happening, not even close. And for Conor, it’s the worst match up at 155. I think for Conor, it’s a tough fight, but I can see him beating Eddie Alvarez. Khabib? I mean that guy’s gonna be the champ. It’s very short sighted by the UFC. Pay Eddie more money. What do you guys fu*king care? Madison Square Garden, how much money do you need? Pay the guy more money. Unless he’s asking for like 10 million or some ridiculous number… It’s very short sighted.
https://soundcloud.com/fighterandthekid/episode-188-jonathan-kite
Conflicting reports about leg injury
Coming after Dana White’s announcement that McGregor will not fight Alvarez at UFC 205, and reports that Alvarez has not yet signed the contract, Megan Olivi claims that McGregor will miss UFC 205 completely as his leg injury will keep him out of action beyond the event. However, other reports say that McGregor’s leg is fine. If McGregor does not fight Alvarez he would most likely have to defend his featherweight title against Jose Aldo, or take on the potentially returning Georges St-Pierre. The official UFC 205 announcement is set for Tuesday 27th September.
According to sources close to McGregor, Conor is "fine" and the leg would not prevent him from fighting at UFC 205.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) September 22, 2016
‘Beg me’
McGregor leaves a cryptic message after White denies that his next fight will be with Alvarez.
Beg me
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 21, 2016
White: McGregor not fighting at UFC 205
In response to a fan question on Twitter, White says UFC 205 will feature Alvarez vs Nurmagomedov, not McGregor. No official statement has been released by White or the UFC regarding McGregor or Aldo’s next fight as of yet.
not true it's @TeamKhabib
— danawhite (@danawhite) September 21, 2016
Alvarez taunts McGregor
Alvarez taunts McGregor on Twitter.
Let's do this @TheNotoriousMMA I'm ready !! Your futures not bright enjoy this one while it last . #ItsAllOver
— Eddie Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) September 21, 2016
The illusion of Greatness will soon be Over. It's time for Truth ! GN guys I have an early morning #ufc205 #eafight #thnq #phillyfighter
— Eddie Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) September 21, 2016