Conor McGregor Makes History By Knocking Out Eddie Alvarez To Win Lightweight Title At UFC 205

Conor McGregor became the first fighter in history on Saturday night to hold two UFC world championships simultaneously after knocking out Eddie Alvarez in the second round at UFC 205 in New York.

Conor McGregor Makes History By Knocking Out Eddie Alvarez To Win Lightweight Title At UFC 205

Irishman McGregor stepped up to the Octagon at Madison Square Garden to a thunderous reception while Alvarez, the man from nearby Philadelphia, was heavily booed.

McGregor, 28, was the aggressor early on as he pressed forward. He hit Alvarez early with his left hand, but the American sprang back up after only seconds on the mat. With 30 second remaining in the opening round, McGregor’s output slowed.

Round two began with McGregor again taking the center of the Octagon. Again, he hit Alvarez with his left hand, although this time the Philadelphian responded with his own jabs. The Irishman then began taunting his opponent, begging him to come forward so he could land another strong blow.

Alvarez then managed to clinch McGregor against the cage. After a minute of defending a takedown, McGregor wriggled away and then the end drew near.

The Irishman slipped an Alvarez right hand and landed a big left cross to temple. Alvarez fell to the mat after the follow-up hit and McGregor landed one hit of ground and pound before referee John McCarthy jumped in to call the fight as the Madison Square Garden crowd roared.

The fight drew a crowd of 20,427 for a live gate of $17.7 million. That was good enough to shatter MSG box-office records and UFC records.

“I want to thank the Las Vegas Culinary Union for spending their members’ dollars making this the biggest night in UFC history,” said UFC president Dana White at the post-fight press conference.

The significance of that fight evidently wasn’t lost on White, who believes it will take an otherworldly bout to surpass the numbers set by Alvarez vs McGregor.

“I don’t think that record will ever be broken,” he said. “Jesus is gonna have to fight the devil to break that record, man.”

Meanwhile, Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson fought to a majority draw (48-7, 47-47, 47-47).

In the women’s event, Poland’s Joanna Jedrzejczyk defeated compatriot Karolina Kowalkiewicz via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46).

Here are the full results of UFC 205:

Main card:

Conor McGregor beats Eddie Alvarez by knockout [lightweight title fight]

Tyron Woodley in majority draw with Stephen Thompson [welterweight title fight]

Joanna Jedrzejczyk beats Karolina Kowalkiewicz by unanimous decision [strawweight title fight]

Yoel Romero beats Chris Weidman by TKO [middleweight]

Raquel Pennington beats Miesha Tate by unanimous decision [bantamweight]

Preliminaries:

Frankie Edgar beats Jeremy Stephens by unanimous decision [featherweight]

Khabib Nurmagomedov beats Michael Johnson by submission [lightweight]

Tim Boetsch beats Rafael Natal by KO [middleweight]

Vicente Luque beats Belal Muhammad by KO [welterweight]

Early pre-lims:

Jim Miller beats Thiago Alves by unanimous decision [welterweight]

Liz Carmouche beats Katlyn Chookagian by unanimous decision [bantamweight]

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 12: (R-L) Conor McGregor of Ireland punches Eddie Alvarez in their UFC lightweight championship fight in their UFC lightweight championship fight during the UFC 205 event at Madison Square Garden on November 12, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images )

Article by Pablo Mena