Eddie Alvarez reflects on UFC title loss to Conor McGregor: 'I went stupid'

USA Today

10 hours ago

Eddie Alvarez knows what it's like to be on the losing end of a historic loss to a UFC star, and he sees parallels between Ilia Topuria and Conor McGregor.
It's been nearly nine years since McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) defeated Alvarez (30-8 MMA, 4-3 UFC) by second-round knockout at UFC 205 in November 2016 to become the first simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history. This past weekend, Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) made history of his own when he knocked out Charles Oliveira to become the first among the 10 all-time multiple weight class titleholders to do it while undefeated.
Alvarez has been nothing short of impressed by Topuria's rise, and he said he sees some of what McGregor had while he was at the top of his game.
"Conor in his prime was almost like Ilia, like a really scary guy," Alvarez told MMA Junkie. "When he was in the gym and he didn't care about any other stuff and he was just fixated on fighting and wanting to beat the best guys. He's a scary human being and was one of the best fighters in the world. There's no denying that.
"At that point of my career I was great. And look what he's done to me. I was coming off a great win with Rafael dos Anjos, arguably one of the greatest lightweights in the world at the time."
Alvarez landed just 12 total trikes in a little more than eight minutes of fight time against McGregor. He went unsuccessful on three takedown attempts, which is also the number of times he was knocked down by "The Notorious."
It was Alvarez's intention to show up that night at Madison Square Garden and thwart McGregor's bid at history. It didn't happen, and now he can be honest that everything from the preparation to the in-cage execution.
Hindsight is a two-way street in a sport like MMA, though. It can lead to delusion and despair, or in the case of Alvarez, additional clarity and humility.
"I probably would've boxed more in the lead up," Alvarez said. "I did a lot of boxing for the Justin Gaethje fight. I did a lot of boxing and it was one of my best performances when I did a lot of boxing with just pro boxers. I got out of the MMA gym and went down to Philly and got with pro boxers. My eyes were the best, my reactions were the best my timing, my punch volume. Everything got better. Probably would've boxed more in the preparation, and boxed less in the fight.
"My eyes, my distance would've been sharper boxing-wise, but the idea was never to box. I feel like I just got caught early in the fight and I went stupid. What I did in the fight was nothing like what we did in the lead up and the preparation. Even in the fight I'm circling toward the left hand a ton, and that was like step one of day one, 'Let's go right mostly and wrestle and kick.' Instead I went left and I boxed. Sometimes you just get punched and go stupid in a fight and that's just how the cookie crumbles. It's a small margin for error when the guys are at the top of the game."
To hear more from Alvarez, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above.