Eddie Alvarez questions Conor McGregor's heart ahead of UFC 205
Over the course of his 13-year and 30-plus fight career, Eddie Alvarez has seen just about everything a mixed martial artist could see inside the cage.
He's gone on long winning streaks and he's had his heart broken by a devastating defeat. Alvarez has trounced former champions in one round and been forced to dig down deep to come back from a near knockout to win in a 25-minute war.
If there's one part of Alvarez's game that can never be questioned, it is his heart.
But he can't say the same about Conor McGregor, his upcoming opponent the UFC 205 main event in New York.
Alvarez was actually gunning for the winner of McGregor's last fight with Nate Diaz at UFC 202 in August, and things couldn't have played out any better now that he's got the shot at the historic card in New York.
But when he watched that five round battle between McGregor and Diaz, Alvarez saw a lot of weaknesses in the featherweight champion's skill set, and he plans to expose every one of them — or at least as many as it takes until he gets the finish and successfully defends his title for the first time.
Especially after the Irishman made a bold prediction that he would finish lightweight champion Alvarez inside one round when they meet on Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden.
"He spent $300,000 on that last camp and gassed out eight minutes in. $300,000 and he gassed out eight minutes in," Alvarez said about McGregor's training camp for Diaz.
"When I mentioned fighter you guys are thinking about technique. I'm not thinking about technique. When I say fighter, I'm talking about how you deal with adversity, how you deal with being in a bad situation. [McGregor] deals terribly with being in bad situations and don't come back."
Indeed, McGregor faced a litany of questions about his ability to deal with adversity when he suffered a submission loss to Diaz in March during their first meeting at UFC 196.
After a dominant first round, McGregor got winded and then wobbled by Diaz on the feet before the fight landed on the ground where he was submitted in quick fashion by rear naked choke.
As soon as the fight was over, McGregor begged the UFC for another shot, and then made good on it with a majority decision win against Diaz in the rematch. In fact, McGregor was nearly finished by Diaz in the third round but somehow managed to recover during a one minute rest period before storming back in the fourth.
Still, Alvarez isn't convinced that McGregor is anything more than a one-hit wonder. And if things don't go his way early, he sees the outspoken Irishman bending and then breaking to his will.
"You ain't got a [expletive] shot. Tell him the truth. You ain't got a shot," Alvarez shouted at McGregor during the press conference. "Your coach knows you ain't got a shot and anybody who knows anything about fighting knows you ain't got a [expletive] shot.
"You're here because you're the easiest dude in this division. That's why you're here."
