Conor McGregorvsEddie Alvarez
UFC 205 · November 12, 2016 · Lightweight
McGregor TKO round 2
McGregor became the first UFC fighter to simultaneously hold two division titles.
On this page (4)
Setup
UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden in New York — the UFC's first event in the state after the 1997 ban was lifted. McGregor entered as the featherweight champion, looking to claim the LW title without vacating the FW. Eddie Alvarez was the reigning LW champion after his 1st-round TKO of Rafael dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night 90.
The fight
Round 1: McGregor closed distance, used the left straight to set up combinations, and dropped Alvarez 3 times in the round. The Alvarez corner held up only because the bell rang. McGregor's left hand was finding the chin repeatedly; Alvarez's defensive movement was inadequate.
Round 2: McGregor continued the pressure. At 3:04, the finishing combination — a 4-punch combination ending with the left hand on the temple — dropped Alvarez. Follow-up strikes forced the referee stoppage at 3:04.
What changed
The Alvarez win made McGregor:
- The first simultaneous 2-division UFC champion (featherweight + lightweight)
- The highest-paid UFC fighter of 2016 with the PPV bonus tied to UFC 205's 1.3M buys
- The most-marketed fighter in UFC history through the next 2 years
McGregor never defended the LW title; he moved to boxing for the August 2017 Floyd Mayweather bout, then took 13 months off, then returned at UFC 229 against Khabib. The LW title was vacated.
Significance
UFC 205 was the peak of the McGregor era. The PPV did 1.3M buys, the gate was the largest in UFC history at the time, and the spectacle of an Irish fighter in Madison Square Garden was the cultural moment that made the UFC a mainstream sport in the US. The 2-division champion credential made McGregor the first UFC fighter to claim it, and the precedent has only been matched by Daniel Cormier, Henry Cejudo, and Amanda Nunes since.
The flip-side: McGregor's career arc went sideways after this peak. The 2-division crown lasted 11 months before he was stripped of the FW title for inactivity; the LW title was vacated to allow Khabib-Iaquinta at UFC 223. The peak was real and the decline was steep.