Photo: UFC
The UFC has confirmed the main event for UFC 205, its first ever in New York City. Conor McGregor will square off against champion Eddie Alvarez over at most five rounds on Nov. 12 at the Madison Square Garden.
The big surprise is that McGregor will retain his featherweight belt. The fight is being billed as an attempt by his part to become the first-ever UFC title holder of two categories at once.
Another interesting detail concers the fight that had been scheduled between Alvarez and Russia’s Khabib Nurmagomedov. That fight is now off.
McGregor (20w, 3l) was alraedy a star as he debuted in the UFC. A two-category champion at Cage Warriors, the Irishman beat Chad Mendes, Diego Brandão and Dennis Siver, until he beat José Aldo for the featherweight belt in just 13 seconds. After that, McGregor was RNC’d by Nate Diaz at welterweight, but won the rematch last August.
Alvarez (28w, 4l), a former Bellator champ, has had a rough time in the UFC. He debuted losing to Donald Cerrone, and then had split-decision wins over Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis. Then he got a lightweight title shot vs. Rafael dos Anjos and won by TKO in R1.
Here’s the part of the lineup that’s confirmed so far for UFC 205:
UFC 205
New York
Eddie Alvarez vs. Conor McGregor
Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson
Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens
Donald Cerrone vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Miesha Tate vs. Raquel Pennington
Tim Kennedy vs. Rashad Evans
Rafael Sapo vs. Tim Boetsch
Liz Carmouche vs. Katlyn Chookagian
Thiago Pitbull vs. Jim Miller
Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad