Eddie Alvarez thinks Conor McGregor’s body has already made the decision for him.
McGregor returned at UFC 329 in July after five years out and tore his ACL and meniscus with the first kick he threw. Max Holloway finished it inside the opening seconds. McGregor had surgery in August and intends to fight again. Alvarez, who lost the lightweight title to him at UFC 205, told MMA Junkie what he saw.
It just looked like it was over. Your body will let you know before your brain does. You’re always going to be, even myself in BKFC, my —- face kept breaking. I’m like, ‘My body is moving good, I’m winning rounds and doing well, but my face keeps breaking.’
He has had the same argument with himself.
Your body will let you know, ‘Hey man, you’re not this 20-year-old kid anymore. You’ve got to pack it in.’ But deep down in your heart, we’re fighters and you’re always like, ‘I can compete and beat this guy.’ You probably can, but —- starts to go. That injury at 20 is dangerous to have. That injury at mid-30s for Conor is even more dangerous.
McGregor is 38 and has one fight left on his contract. Alvarez does not expect the UFC to make that fight comfortable.
But, No. 1, he’s UFC’s biggest bargaining chip. Do they really just go down without a fight and just give him a fight and say, ‘Go.’ I’ve been there with Bellator. I got sued before they let me leave. Are they going to agree upon a matchup because at this point if you say you want to leave the company, you are public enemy No. 1.
He expects any offers to be unappealing on purpose.
So our whole goal is to get you beat in such a way that you have no value outside this company. Are they going to agree on a matchup? The matchups they’re going to give him, he’s not going to want. He’s not going to want them. Is the UFC going to say, ‘Let’s get rid of our $100 million man and let him go on his way’? It doesn’t work that way in any dealings I’ve ever had in the last two decades.
That view comes from his own history rather than anything inside the UFC. Bellator sued Alvarez in 2013 when he tried to sign with the promotion, tying him up for close to a year over matching rights.
The Holloway fight was McGregor’s first since July 2021, when he broke his leg against Dustin Poirier. He has not won since January 2020 and is 1-3 across his last four.
