Conor McGregor was in a do-or-die situation heading into his UFC 205 main event against Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden. If he won, he'd make history; a loss, if he lost, he'd still be the featherweight champ, but he has already beat almost all of the top contenders.
McGregor proclaimed he was going to make history Saturday, and he did just that in knocking out Alvarez at 3:04 of the second round to become the UFC lightweight champion, too. McGregor is the first fighter in UFC history to hold two titles at the same time.
MORE: McGregor and his trash talk are UFC's secret weapon
"You’ve got to have size, read, length," McGregor told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview. "They’re not on my level. You’ve go to have attributes."
It was McGregor from start to finish. He found a home with his patented left hand to drop Alvarez three times in the first round. The second round was going the same way until McGregor landed a short left hand, a right hand, another left and a right hand that knocked out Alvarez. Referee John McCarthy called the fight.
It is unknown if McGregor (21-3) will have to relinquish one of the titles. He said he was going to have a big announcement after the fight but didn't provide specifics to the New York crowd.
What else went down at UFC 205? We have that for you below.
12:27: Round 1 to McGregor, 10-9. Alvarez had a great game plan to start by throwing leg kicks, which made McGregor crumble for a moment. Then the dangerous left hand of McGregor started to rear its ugly head, dropping Alvarez three times. Alvarez needs to go back to the leg kicks to have a chance. I like how McGregor didn't blow his energy and stayed composed during the knockdowns.
12:11: Time for the main event of UFC 205: Eddie Alvarez defends the lightweight title against featherweight champ Conor McGregor. The Irishman looks to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two titles at the same time.
1:02: Woodley wins by majority draw over Thompson (48-47, 47-47, 47-47) to retain the welterweight title. Two of the judges scored the fourth round a 10-8 for Woodley which was the key to Woodley retaining. Woodley did almost finish Thompson on two occasions but in the last 45 seconds, Thompson had top position and landing ground and pound punches. That is hard to constitute a 10-8 round. If those two judges score it 10-9 for Woodley, Thompson wins the title.A rematch should ensure between the two.
12:57: Round 5 Thompson (10-9, 48-47). Thompson continued the momentum from the final moments of the fourth round, controlling the octagon and keeping Woodley's back against the octagon. Thompson was more active, throwing more combinations. Woodley was exhausted and throwing in spots. Had to suck it up in those championship rounds and that should cost him the fight.
12:51: Round 4 Woodley (10-9, 38-38). The best round of the fight and the night so far. Woodley dropped Thompson with a right hand and landed vicious ground and punches but Thompson somehow survived. Woodley then suck in a deep guillotine and Thompson showed his mettle in surviving where a lot of guys would have tapped out. Thompson not only got out of the choke but went on to land ground and pound punches. And we still got a fifth round. Holy cow!
12:44: Round 3 Thompson (10-9, 29-28). Thompson striking is on point and is able to do whatever he wants when he wants. Woodley is failing to adapt. He keeps backing up against the cage and keeps eating Thompson's right hand. Woodley needs to throw more leg kicks.
12:38: Round 2 Thompson (10-9, 19-19). Woodley handed the round to Thompson. He kept his back against the cage and Thompson was able to utilize the jab and combinations. Thompson is starting to find his rhythm. Woodley needs to keep the fight in the middle of the octagon and it doesn't help either that he is starting to slow down.
12:32: Round 1 Woodley (10-9). Both fighters didn't do anything for about the first 1:15. Thompson tried to throw a body kick, Woodley blocked it to take him down. Then Woodley went to work. He used his grappling to setup his ground and pound. He battered Thompson and left bloody with a possible broken nose.
12:17: In the co-main event of UFC 205, Tyron Woodley defends the welterweight title against Stephen Thompson. Woodley knocked out Robbie Lawler to win the belt at UFC 201 in July. Thompson has seven consecutive fights to earn the title opportunity.
12:08: Joanna Jedrzejczyk beats Karolina Kowalkiewicz by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) to retain the UFC women's strawweight title. Beyond the moment in the fourth round, Jedrzejczyk controlled the fight even though she is swollen in couple spots on her face and Kowalkiewicz has minimal mark. Kowalkiewicz is very tough and durable. It was Jedrzejczyk's toughest title defense. They will meet again and should be in Poland. Will be interesting if the UFC can find a challenge for Jedrzejczyk who is now 13-0, won all eight of her UFC fights and made her fourth consecutive title defense.
12:05: Round 5 Jedrzejczyk (10-9, 49-46). The champion bounced back from a shaky fourth round and used the momentum from the end of the round and brought it into the final round. Going to the judges scorecard.
11:58: Round 4 Kowalkiewicz (10-9, 39-37). The best round of the fight so far. Kowalkiewicz showed some life landing a straight right hand that rocked Jedrzejczyk and sent her back against the cage and went on a flurry but the champion did survive. Would have like to see Kowalkiewicz go after it a little more considering she was down three rounds and press the issue more. Liked the tenacity of Jedrzejczyk coming back at the round with a combination and a couple knees. Kowalkiewicz needs a stoppage.
11:52: Round 3 Jedrzejczyk (10-9, 30-27). Jedrzejczyk doing the same thing she's been doing in the first three rounds. Kowalkiewicz has no answer to the riddle of Jedrzejczyk In between rounds three and four, Jedrzejczyk looks fresh as a daisy and Kowalkiewicz is exhausted.
11:47: Round 2 Jedrzejczyk (10-9, 20-18). Jedrzejczyk started to mix it up more finishing her combinations with low kicks which is starting to take effect on the legs of Kowalkiewicz. The challenger hasn't been able to anything. There's no fluidity in her striking, she's repetitive and doesn't have the grappling to take Jedrzejczyk to the mat.
11:40: Round 1 Jedrzejczyk (10-9). Her striking was crisp and on point. Jedrzejczyk was connecting on numerous combinations and her punches were more powerful. Kowalkiewicz switched stances to try and throw off the champion and give her different looks but to no avail. She needs to change her attack as all she's doing is charging in and all Jedrzejczyk had to do was move to the side.
11:23: Time for the first of three titles fights at UFC 205, Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends the strawweight title against fellow Polish native Karolina Kowalkiewicz. This should be the toughest test in the title reign for Jedrzejczyk as Kowalkiewicz is undefeated in ten career fights.
11:13: Romero defeats Weidman by TKO at 0:24 of the third round. It was an even fight going into third round. Weidman had won the first round mixing up his strikes. Romero won the second round using his Olympic wrestling. In the third round, Weidman went for a takedown and Romero landed a flush flying knee and landed seven unnecessary punches before referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight. With the win, Romero earns a crack at middleweight champion Michael Bisping. After the fight, Bisping and Romero gave each other the middle finger and started the trash talk. That is now back-to-back losses for Weidman. Hard to determine what his next step will be.
10:46: Up next at UFC 205, in middleweight action, Chris Weidman fights Yoel Romero. This is the first fight for Weidman since he lost the middleweight title against Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 last December. Romero hasn't fought since his win over "Jacare" Souza at the same UFC 194. But Romero was suspended for six months by USADA for unknowingly taking a tainted supplement.
10:39: Pennington defeats Tate by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). Without a doubt, the best performance of Pennington's career. Great striking early in the fight and her improved grappling brought her to the dance to notch the decision. "Rocky" scored the biggest win of her career and vaults her to the top of the line in the women's bantamweight division. After the fight, Tate told Joe Rogan she was retiring due to her performance in the fight. She said the future is in girls like Pennington. Tate had a great career. A former 135-pound champ in Strikeforce and UFC. She was vaulted into a star due to her feud with Ronda Rousey. Sounds like a rash decision and hopefully she reconsiders since two fights ago she was the world champion. If she stays retired, thank you, Miesha, for a great career and being a pioneer in women's MMA.
10:10: To kickoff the main card of UFC 205, in women's bantamweight action, former bantamweight champ Miesha Tate battles Raquel Pennington. Tate lost her title in her last fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200. Pennington has won three consecutive fights. Tate was Pennington's teacher on the all-women's season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2013.
10:01: It is time for the main card of UFC 205.
9:58: Edgar defeats Stephens by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). Huge win for Edgar after the loss to Aldo. In the second round, Stephens rocked Edgar with a front kick and a short knee but Edgar survived and scored a key takedown with a minute left in the round. The key to the third and final round was the relentless takedowns by Edgar. Give Edgar a lot of credit for doing what he always does, persevere and battle back when he meets adversity. After the fight, Edgar told Joe Rogan he was wanting to be on UFC 209 in Brooklyn in February.
9:35: Time for the headlining fight in the prelims of UFC 205 as former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar goes up against Jeremy Stephens. Edgar is coming off a title fight loss to Jose Aldo at UFC 200. Stephens is coming off a win over former bantamweight champion Renan Barao.
9:23: Nurmagomedov defeats Johnson by submission (kimura) at 2:31 of the third round. After a shaky start in where Johnson had him wobbled, it was all Nurmagomedov after that. He stopped trying to trade punches and he went to his bread and butter, the ground game. "The Eagle" used his Sambo to mix in his ground and pound and look for a submission. Johnson had no way to escape. Give Johnson credit for surviving for as long as he did but Nurmagomedov is the best grappler in the world and it is not even close. After the fight, he went up to Dana White and demanded he get the winner of the main event. Nurmagomedov is 24-0 and his ability to sell a fight should net him that opportunity.
8:55: Up next, in a key lightweight bout at UFC 205, No. 2 ranked Khabib Nurmagomedov battles No. 6 Michael Johnson. The winner is likely to earn a shot at the winner of tonight's main event.
8:37: Boetsch wins by TKO in the first round at 3:22 over Natal. Precision striking by Boetsch proved to be too much for the Brazilian. A short right hook dropped Natal and a couple right hands later it was all over. That is 12th career win by knockout in Boetsch, who runs his record to 20-10. The native of Maine has won back-to-back fights.
8:24: Up next at UFC 205, in middleweight action, Rafael Natal faces Tim Boetsch. This is a key fight for Boetsch as he's lost three of his last four fights while Natal has won four of his last five.
8:15: Luque wins by knockout in 79 seconds over Muhammad. By far, the biggest victory in his career. He took the fight on two-and-half weeks notice and cutting 30 pounds. They were trading shots in the middle of the octagon and Luque threw a short left hook and it was all she wrote. Luque has now won four consecutive fights which puts him third in the welterweight division for that category.
8:04: Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad kicks off the Fox Sports prelims at UFC 205.
7:58: Miller defeats Alves by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). The key to the fight were the takedowns by Miller. It was a smart move by Miller since Alves had to keep his weight under 173 pounds. The New Jersey native grinded down Alves to now have most wins in the history of the lightweight division.
7:37: In the headlining fight on Fight Pass, in a catchweight bout, Jim Miller faces Thiago Alves. It was supposed to Alves' debut at lightweight but he came in at 163 pounds.
7:31: Carmouche wins by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) to get the notch the first UFC victory in MSG. The fight could have went either way but the takedowns in the first and second rounds sealed the deal. That is back-to-back wins for Carmouche. Hopefully she fights more often and could make another run at the title.
7:06: To kickoff UFC 205 on UFC Fight Pass and in the first fight ever in Madison Square Garden, in women's bantamweight action, Liz Carmouche goes up against Katlyn Chookagian. Carmouche, a 135-pound title foe for Ronda Rousey hasn't since April 2015.
6:53: Hello, my name is Steven Muehlhausen from SportingNews.com. Tonight is finally upon us with the much anticipated UFC 205. The main event features Eddie Alvarez defending the lightweight title against featherweight champion Conor McGregor. The card also features two title fights as Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends the women's strawweight title vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz and in the co-main event, Tyron Woodley defends the welterweight title against Stephen Thompson. I will be providing with live coverage of the fight. Grab your drinks and food, and buckle up and enjoy our Pacquiao vs. Vargas coverage.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can find his podcast, "The Fight Club Chicago," and subscribe on iTunes . You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA .
