The promotion for UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden is cranking into gear. First up was last week's press conference, and now the appearances on Ariel Helwani's MMA Hour: first up was Eddie Alvarez, who used the opportunities to take a pop at Conor McGregor and his fans.
Alvarez was initially withdrawn, but after some Helwani probing, he delivered plenty for McGregor - and most surprisingly his fans - to chew over ahead of the showdown on November 12.
The American admitted he was "surprised" that McGregor knew how much money he was making from the fight (the Irishman tackled him on it during the press conference), speculating that "maybe there was a stipulation that if I demanded more, the fight would be off, and he could fight somebody else".
Alvarez also revealed what he said to McGregor at the stare down after the press conference:
Give him the little boy belt. Take the little boy belt. That pissed him off a bit. He puffed his chest out and tightened his pants, and stood tall.
The most surprising line from the interview was his criticism of McGregor's supporters, who he believes are not true MMA fans, instead being attracted to the cult of McGregor when asked whether he believes he will be booed in New York, as he was at the presser:
I definitely didn't expect that as far as the boos were concerned but it just reiterated to me what his fanbase is.
His fanbase is him. It's all perception and it seems like he's got a lot of WWE fans, guys who don't know much about fighting at all but they like him.
You can have those fans, they're not the fans I want anyway. I'll get booed all day long because I don't want fans who don't know shit about MMA.
I'd rather have a fan who knows the sport, who enjoys the sport and who can see the value.
Alvarez also produced some trademark pre-fight posturing, believing McGregor was the easiest challenge on offer, preferable to the likes of Raphael Dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone:
I do think he is the easiest challenge.
I think every other one of them opponents that you mentioned have a well-rounded skill-set. Even if the fight goes to another realm of MMA, going for standing up to ground to ju jitsu, everyone is well versed in each one. They can hang with the toughest guys in the sport in any aspect. I don't think he [McGregor] can, from what I've seen.
The conditioning aspect..not a good level of conditioning, from what I've seen. The last Nate Diaz fight, I learned a lot from that.
Usually when I square off with someone, my heart rate goes up. I've never felt so unthreatened by another human being when I squared up to him. That's the God's honest truth.
When pushed by Helwani on a fight prediction (McGregor is calling a first-round knockout), Alvarez was evasive:
I enjoyed the press conference. I don't take anything personal. Even when someone is trying to be legitimately malicious to me, it's really hard for me to take things personal. I'm just trying to enjoy the show. On November 12, I won't get tooemotional, and the job will get done. It'll get done quickly and violently.
Man, we'll have to see [what happens]. Fights are unpredictable. I'd be lying, just like he is, if I spit something out. He made his precition after I made it angry. He just made it up, because he got angry.
You'll see the vision on November 12 and it'll be a beautiful image.
You can watch the full MMA hour below.
