Eddie Alvarez after UFC 205 title loss to Conor McGregor: I 'fought a stupid fight'

NEW YORK – Eddie Alvarez is handling the loss of his UFC lightweight title to Conor McGregor about as well as any fighter possibly could given the buildup and stakes that were involved in Saturday’s UFC 205 pay-per-view headliner.

Alvarez (28-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) dropped the 155-pound title to McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) in somewhat humiliating fashion at Madison Square Garden in New York. Alvarez was caught and early and often by the trademark left hand of “The Notorious” before suffering a second-round knockout that ended his title reign before he could register a single defense.

There was almost no positive moments for Alvarez in the lopsided fight. While obviously disappointed, he was able to realistic reflect on his performance in the immediate aftermath of the bout.

“I fought a bad fight,” Alvarez said after UFC 205. “The idea wasn’t to go in there and box and stand in front of him. I didn’t fight a good fight. … We started throwing kicks, and the kicks were successful. I would have started throwing more. We didn’t wrestle enough. The idea was to go in there and wrestle. Wrestle a guy who likes to box, and I didn’t do that. Not quite sure why I didn’t do that. But I didn’t do it tonight, and I paid for it. He capitalized.”

The days and weeks leading up to UFC 205 were very heated. Both fighters berated the other’s abilities and thought they had a fairly easy path to victory. Only one was right, though.  Alvarez admitted he was caught off guard with the two-division champ’s hand speed.

“It was more speed (that got me),” Alvarez said. “I think I got dropped. The first time I was dropped, I remember being on my butt, and I was like, ‘Wow that was quick. Whatever that was, it was fast.’ I’ve been there before a lot of times in my career. I’ve been dropped. I don’t panic. I get my composure and get right back up. It was more – his speed and timing were very good.”

Alvarez repeated multiple times that he didn’t stick to the game plan his coaches laid out for him. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly why not, but a likely source is that all of McGregor’s pre-fight talk encouraged him to stand up and exchange more punches than originally intended.

“I’ll be the first to admit that was not my intention to go into that fight,” Alvarez said. “That was stupid, it was foolish, and I paid for not sticking to the game plan. I paid for it. I didn’t stick to the game plan. … I apologize. I fought a stupid fight, it wasn’t a good fight, it wasn’t my plan, and I paid for it.”

Many fighters would scurry out of the spotlight and avoid talking about performing so poorly, but that’s not how Alvarez approaches the sport, he said. To him, a loss is a loss whether it takes place in front of millions of people or no one, and he congratulated McGregor on his winning effort and history-making accomplishment of being the first simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history.

“I’ve been in the fight game for years, I’ve never defined myself by a win, and I’ll never define myself by a loss,” Alvarez said. “This is the game. Sometimes you’re crazy victorious; sometimes you lose. You put your suit on, and you answer questions.

“It’s incredible (what McGregor has done). My hat’s off to him. He did a phenomenal job, and he continues to do an incredible job for MMA.”

For more on UFC 205, check out the UFC Events section of the site.