UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden features Gotham-sized six-fight main card

To say the UFC is pulling out all the stops for its first trip to Madison Square Garden in New York City is an understatement.

Everyone seemed to sense UFC 205 was going to be a big deal – a Gotham-sized pay-per-view worthy of “The City That Never Sleeps.” As the weeks went on and there was no official news about bookings, everyone wondered just what might be in store and when we’d find out.

And when the news hit, it was worth the wait. UFC 205, which takes place Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden with a main card on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass, will feature not one title fight … not two title fights … but three. Three championship bouts at the top of the bill.

And leading them all is a fight between a pair of champs, giving featherweight champ Conor McGregor (20-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) the chance to become the first simultaneous two-division titleholder in UFC history when he tries to upend lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez (28-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC).

But there are two other fights worth of main event status right below that. Welterweight champ Tyron Woodley (16-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) defends his belt for the first time when he meets Stephen Thompson (13-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC), and women’s strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) takes on Polish countrywoman Karolina Kowalkiewicz (10-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC).

The crazy thing, though, is that the UFC probably could’ve had three title fights on the main card and called it a day – and could have justified it. But that wasn’t big enough for the “Big Apple.” And that meant the promotion eschewed its tradition of having five fights on the main card of pay-per-views and went one stronger – with six.

The promotion confirmed on Saturday UFC 205 will feature a six-fight main card with Yoel Romero (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) vs. former champ Chris Weidman (13-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) in a key middleweight bout, Donald Cerrone (31-7 MMA, 18-4 UFC) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (12-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) at welterweight, and Raquel Pennington (8-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) vs. former champ Miesha Tate (18-6 MMA, 5-3 UFC) in a women’s bantamweight bout to open the pay-per-view portion.

This won’t be the first time the UFC has gone heavy on a pay-per-view’s main card, though. For UFC 190 in Brazil in August 2015, the promotion had a whopping seven fights on the main card, headlined by then-women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey in what was a 34-second knockout win over Bethe Correia.

But the reality is, the fights on the prelims feel like they could be on a main card with the likes of Rashad Evans vs. Tim Kennedy, Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens, Michael Johnson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Thiago Alves vs. Jim Miller.

Check out the UFC’s newly released official poster for UFC 205, as well as the video preview above.

The latest UFC 205 card includes:

• Lighrweight champ Eddie Alvarez vs. featherweight champ Conor McGregor – for lightweight title
• Champ Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson – for welterweight title
• Champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz – for strawweight title
• Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman
• Donald Cerrone vs. Kelvin Gastelum
• Raquel Pennington vs. Miesha Tate
• Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens
• Michael Johnson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
• Rashad Evans vs. Tim Kennedy
• Tim Boetsch vs. Rafael Natal
• Thiago Alves vs. Jim Miller
• Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad
• Liz Carmouche vs. Katlyn Chookagian

For more on UFC 205, check out the UFC Rumors section of the card.