Conor McGregor beats Alvarez to become a two-weight champion

[AkydefGoldberg]

He seemed to win quite comfortably in the second round as @Prophet predicted on Twitter.

Two weight champion at the same time, becoming a father next year and wanting even more (yes, more!) money from the company which I don't really begrudge him considering the money Dana and the owners probably make.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Mayweather rumours spring up again as he's negotiating with the UFC and Floyd linked with a re-match with Pacquiao.

Khabib Nurmagedov produced a pummelling of Michael Johnson, from what I saw towards the end of that fight. Has an unbeaten record, a lightweight, surely a tough challenge for Conor?

Also, AFAIK McGregor has lost once in the UFC but Alvarez said he'd lost three times, I assume this was prior to his UFC days?

[PorkChop]

Incredible scenes. McGregor schooled Alvarez and made him look like an amateur. McGregor's left cross is the best in MMA.

Khabib doesn't deserve the shot. Before last night he'd beaten one guy ranked inside the top 5, and that was over 2 years ago. Khabib could definitely cause McGregor problems but Tony Ferguson is much more deserving for a shot at the lightweight belt after beating Rafael Dos Anjos. McGregor's first defence should be against Jose Aldo for the featherweight belt, followed by Ferguson at lightweight.

McGregor has only lost once in the UFC, a submission loss to Nate Diaz earlier this year. He took the fight on short notice and jumped up two weight classes to welterweight to fight him, gassed out quite quickly and Diaz submitted him. McGregor came back to win a unanimous decision in the rematch. He's unbeaten at featherweight and lightweight in the UFC, but has only fought at lightweight once, which was last night.

I wonder if the talk about Mayweather will start up again now. The fight will absolutely never happen though.

[PorkChop]

HQ video of the TKO:

https://my.mixtape.moe/pcyckf.mp4

Also

[The Legend]

Not an MMA expert by any means, but after seeing his record and then his fight last night Nurmagedov looked really impressive. Very few fights that have lasted into the third round have ever been so one sided from what I saw, just unrelenting pressure.

[AkydefGoldberg]

Boy, watching that Alvarez was really out of his depth. Intimated before hand he would try to take McGregor to the mat but never got an opportunity to do so.

I do like the look of Khabib admittedly, might look at his prior fights when I need to kill some time.

[PorkChop]

Khabib is a unique lightweight and has some of the most effective sambo / wrestling in MMA, but there's certainly more exciting fighters to watch. He's being hyped up as McGregor's next opponent now, but he's not as deserving as Tony Ferguson is at lightweight. The only way I can see Khabib getting the shot is because of the intrigue of his and McGregor's contrasting styles, which admittedly would be interesting to see, but Khabib certainly doesn't deserve the lightweight title shot on merit.

Khabib's submission win over Michael Johnson on Saturday night was the only time Khabib had knocked out or submitted a top 10 ranked guy in the UFC, and it was against a guy with a whole bunch of submission losses (over half of Johnson's career losses come by submission). Khabib has finished 3 other opponents in the UFC, but none of them were ranked in the top 15 at the time he fought them. Aside from Saturday night, every time Khabib has fought someone inside the top 10 or 15, he's been unable to get a stoppage. He's only ever beaten one guy ranked inside the top 5 too, and that was nearly 3 years ago.

Could he cause McGregor problems? Absolutely. Khabib's control of his opponents, his positioning and his IQ on the mat is absolutely fantastic. McGregor's takedown defence has improved but Khabib would certainly stand a good chance at getting McGregor down and controlling him on the mat. Johnson cracked him though on Saturday night, and if Johnson can wobble Khabib then I'd certainly bet on McGregor to do the same.

If you want to watch a fight from a technical standpoint, Khabib is an interesting fighter to watch. But if you're looking for entertainment, I wouldn't rank Khabib in my top 40 most entertaining fighters.

[Messiah]

They should give CM Punk a shot.

[prophet]

History was made and man did Conor make it look easy. Predicted the second round TKO on Twitter so I was smug when it happened. Khabib is a monster but as Porky rightly said he's fought too infrequently in recent years to deserve anything; him and El Cucuy should fight in an eliminator.

At this point I'd press on with Conor vs Nate 3 for the belt. That fight has a feud that people are already on board with, will make the most money for the company and has genuine fighting intrigue given that it's tied at 1-1 (this is also why it makes sense logically). That's what I want; strike while the iron is hot on that one.

They should also strip McGregor of the featherweight belt in a few weeks. His next fights are at 155/170 IMO, no point him holding up that division any longer. He's the only dual-multi champion in UFC history; that's the accomplishment he wanted, time to give up the 145 strap and laugh at Aldo's pathetic numbers with the paper belt.

Conor/Nate 3. UFC 209 in Brooklyn. Dig it. (Put Nick on the card as well pls #Stockton)