Former UFC heavyweight champion Bas Rutten thinks Conor McGregor could be in for a rough night against Eddie Alvarez.
The Notorious will be taking on the lightweight champion for his “big-boy belt” in the main event of the UFC’s highly-anticipated New York debut in what promises to be one hell of a headliner.
Joe Rogan thinks people would be foolish to write off the Underground King’s chances against the Dubliner and Rutten’s assessment of the match-up suggests he’d be inclined to agree with the colour commentator.
Meet the man standing between Conor McGregor and his dream of making UFC history #UFC205 https://t.co/uNcBc4SvMd
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Rutten broke down Alvarez’s strengths in a recent episode of the Rutten and Ranallo podcast, and he believes McGregor needs to find a way to cope with the raw aggression and gameness of Alvarez. He feels that McGregor needs to keep him on the outside in order to quell the ferocity and avoid being taken down.
“It’s a dangerous fight for McGregor. The fighting style from Alvarez is relentless – pushing, coming forward, throwing bombs, in the clinch, then throwing bombs in the clinch then take him down once and he’s got some serious ground and pound. He also has stamina. He’s fought a bunch of times five rounds, he’s been there for a long time.”
One of Alvarez’s biggest strengths is his wrestling acumen. He was an All-American at high school level and although he never competed at collegiate level, that’s merely because he didn’t go to college. Although people may argue that McGregor had great success against elite wrestler Chad Mendes, Rutten argues that Alvarez is likely to dish out way more punishment on the ground.
“McGregor is going to need his footwork and he’s going to need it a lot. He does not want to be taken down. He’s not going to be like Chad Mendes once he takes it to the ground. This guy’s going to unload on him. He’s also going to need to avoid the clinch because it’s going to be very tiring and he doesn’t have the best gas tank. Alvarez was right with that.”
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McGregor will undoubtedly have the power advantage thanks to that beautiful Celtic cross that has the ability to render the vast majority of fighters unconscious. However, Rutten believes this will only be an effective weapon in the opening rounds.
“(McGregor)’s very powerful in the first two rounds. Against Diaz, he looked phenomenal, but Diaz didn’t come forward the way Alvarez is going to come forward. Alvarez is going to bull-rush this guy, that’s what’s going to happen. It’s going to be a tough fight.”
“If there’s going to be a knockout, it’s probably going to be a knockout for McGregor in the first or second round. After that, I truly believe it will be Alvarez.”
Why can’t it just be November 12 already?
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