IRISHMAN Conor “The Notorious” McGregor made Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) history yesterday, claiming his second title after beating erstwhile lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez by knockout in the second round of “UFC 205” in New York City.
Mr. McGregor, already the featherweight champion, became the first fighter in the organization’s annals to hold two division championships simultaneously after the win in what arguably was the UFC’s biggest fight card to date that featured three title fights.
Victorious as well in UFC New York City were welterweight champion Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley, who survived by majority draw #2 contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, and women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who dominated challenger and compatriot Karolina Kowalkiewicz (#2) en route to a unanimous decision win.
Staring history in the eye, Mr. McGregor dominated right from the get-go, knocking down Mr. Alvarez three times in the first round alone.
But while the Philadelphia native survived the onslaught, the end came for him in the second round as Ireland’s McGregor raised the ante.
Hit by a combination of left and right punches, Mr. Alvarez dropped for the last time midway into the round and could not recover from it as Mr. McGregor pounded on him until referee John McCarthy stepped in to stop the fight at the 3:04 mark.
The win was the 21st for Mr. McGregor out of 24 fights and his second straight while also solidifying his stature as one of the best fighters in the UFC right now and arguably its biggest draw.
“This is my second [expletive] belt!” he exclaimed after.
“I was not surprised one bit [of the outcome]. When you go up against me, you have to have some attributes,” the two-division champion said.
The loss made for an unsuccessful first title defense for Mr. Alvarez (28-5), who won the belt in his previous fight against Rafael Dos Anjos in July.
Welterweight champ Woodley, meanwhile, had a battle in his hand against challenger Thompson but did just enough to escape with his title by way of majority draw, 47-47, 47-47 and 48-47.
Mr. Woodley started strong in the opening round, busting Mr. Thompson open with solid elbows and punches but the latter would regain his bearing in the second round with some timely hits of his own to rattle the champion.
The two went back and forth in the succeeding rounds, not giving a budge and countering each other to leave the decision to the judges.
A bit of a mix-up happened just as the winner was being proclaimed.
Ring announcer Bruce Buffer initially proclaimed Mr. Woodley (16-3-1) as winner by split decision only to correct himself moments later and made it a win by majority draw.
Both fighters accepted the result and hailed their encounter as a good fight.
Mr. Thompson, with the loss, dropped to 13-1-1.
In the women’s strawweight title fight, Ms. Jedrzejczyk lorded it over Ms. Kowalkiewicz, resulting in a 49-46, 49-46 and 49-46 UD victory.
Defending her title for the fourth time, Ms. Jedrzejczyk made sure that she stayed the course despite being rocked late in the match by her opponent. The champion had more strikes, 181-63, and ahead in significant strikes and was more efficient, 171-of- 360 (47%) to 50-of-220 (22%).
With the win, Ms. Jedrzejczyk improved to 13-0 while Ms. Kowalkiewicz (10-1) absorbed her first defeat.
In earlier fights, Yoel “Hands of God” Romero (#4) defeated former middleweight champ Chris “The All-American” Weidman (#2) by a third-round technical knockout; and Raquel “Rocky” Pennington beat former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha “Cupcake” Tate by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 and 30-27). Afterwards, Ms. Tate (18-7) said she was retiring from competition, citing it was time for the new breed of women fighters to take over.
Next stop for the UFC is “UFC Fight Night 99” on Nov. 20 (Manila time) that will feature the rematch of top middleweight fighters Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi and Uriah “Prime Time” Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In the Philippines, Cignal TV, the country’s foremost direct-to-home (DTH) company, is the new home of the UFC after the two groups agreed to an extensive three-year deal that will see the UFC beamed on various platforms.