Eddie Alvarez: Conor McGregor Quits After Eight Minutes of Fighting

At Tuesday’s press conference to kick off the marketing blitz for the monumental UFC 205 in November, reigning lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez was often amused with the loquacious and polarizing Conor McGregor.

The two will meet in the main event of what will be the first-ever UFC event held in New York City at the legendary Madison Square Garden. McGregor was his usual blustery self on the dais, barking trash talk and hurling insults toward Alvarez. Usually one to get under his foe’s skin, Alvarez mostly laughed off what “Notorious” yelled, though he took some jabs at the Irishman before the presser concluded.

McGregor targeted Alvarez’s contract and criticized the lightweight champion for accepting what will be the biggest fight of his life without having the ability to renegotiate his contract with the UFC. Alvarez seemed unfazed.

“I was OK with the money,” he said in front of tidal wave of boos and jeers from the heavily pro-McGregor crowd as MSG. “I wasn’t going to negotiate the money because this guy is easy money. Easy.

“You ain’t got a shot,” he continued after another verbal attack from McGregor. “Your coach knows you ain’t got a shot and anybody who knows you knows you ain’t got a shot. You’re here because you’re the easiest dude in this division. That’s why you’re here.”

Alvarez promised to make his fight against the most popular fighter in the sport an easy one and he expects to expose the Dublin native in front of the entire world. Though McGregor has achieved tremendous success and a massive fortune for doing what he does, the Philadelphian isn’t convinced that he’s what everybody seems to make him out to be.

“This guy got eight minutes of fighting, that’s it,” he said. “He quits after eight minutes and that’s it. He’s not a championship fighter; he’s never been. And he’s never, ever fought anyone in the UFC like me.

“When you’re thinking about ‘fighter,’ you’re thinking about technique,” he added. “I’m not talking about technique. I’m talking about how you deal with adversity. How do you deal with being in a bad situation? He deals terribly with being in bad situations and he don’t come back.”

Alvarez smirked when McGregor promised to take his lightweight belt and add it to the 145-pound title the Irishman claimed last December.

“After Nov. 12, you’re not going to have anything,” Alvarez said. “You’ll have to give up the little boy belt and you’re not getting the big boy belt.”