Conor McGregor’s rise to fame has been a rapid one, to say the least. After quickly climbing up the featherweight ranks, beating one opponent after another, “The Notorious” was established into mainstream superstardom last December, when he defeated former long-time champion José Aldo with one shot in mere 13 seconds of action.
McGregor did encounter a major test when he faced Nate Diaz at UFC 196 last March, but to his credit, was able to even the score via a majority decision win at UFC 202 in August. These accomplishments, however, mean nothing to Eddie Alvarez. During Thursday’s pre-UFC 205 conference call, the reigning lightweight champion devalued every single one of McGregor’s previous opponents.
“The guys he’s picked to fight; these are subpar guys,” Alvarez said. “Even Nate (Diaz) is a .500 lightweight and everybody in the lightweight division has beat Nate and he had trouble doing that. The guys that he’s faced are nothing of the caliber of fighter that I am.”
“He’s fought a bunch of chumps. If I had the resume he had, if they gave me that resume, if I was that lucky to get them opponents, the same sh-t would happen, if not worse. Styles make matchups. When you pick the style you want to fight, then sh-t, you get mismatched, you can knock everyone out.”
“I can go to the supermarket right now and punch a guy in the mouth and look like a superhero,” Alvarez continued. “But when you fight the best guys in the world, the true best guys in the world, it’s going to be tough. The fight’s going to be tough. Sh-t’s gonna change. You’re not gonna look as good.”
Like Diaz, Alvarez is seemingly not bothered by McGregor’s pre-fight behavior. Because for him, his challenger is in for a rude awakening once they meet each other on November 12th at Madison Square Garden.
“He will see the night of the fight that ‘sh-t, I’ve been going up against sh-tty opponents that were good style matchups and this one is not and I’m f—-d, cause he’s stronger, just as fast and he’s got skill sets that can dominate me any day of the week’. That’s the reality he’s got to deal with.”
