Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in New York

• McGregor’s savage UFC burn
• UFC’s embarrassing blunder
• â€?He’s just pouring blood’
• â€?This is really horrific’

Conor McGregor made history by becoming the first UFC fighter to simultaneously hold two titles in separate weight classes when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez to claim the lightweight belt at UFC 205 in New York.

11am

UFC’s momentous occasion

WHEN the UFC began plans for 2016 all eyes were on one card — UFC 200 in Las Vegas in July.

There may have been hopes of a marquee event in New York later in the year, but given a lengthy battle to have mixed martial arts legalised in that state was still being waged, no firm plans could be made.

Fast forward 11 months and it seemed beyond doubt that Sunday’s historic UFC 205 card at Madison Square Garden would be the hallmark event of 2016.

It lived up to the hype as Conor McGregor made history in the headline fight against Eddie Alvarez.

Read on below to check out how the fight night unfolded.

2pm

Main card

Lightweight championship

Conor McGregor (21-3-0) defeated Eddie Alvarez (28-5-0) via TKO (R2, 3:04)

If the hype around Conor McGregor was huge heading into UFC 205, it’s going to be out of control now.

The Irish superstar created UFC history in New York, becoming the first fighter to hold titles in two weight classes by taking Eddie Alvarez’s lightweight belt.

It was a truly awesome display. McGregor rocked Alvarez three times in the first round before finishing the job with several more stunning strikes in the second.

Alvarez, a tough Philly fighter known as “The Underground King”, looked completely out of his depth and barely landed a punch. “The Notorious” defended three takedowns from Alvarez and landed 32 significant strikes to nine.

“An incredible, incredible performance,” commentator Joe Rogan said.

McGregor followed his breathtaking showing with a similarly memorable post-fight interview in which he savagely burned the entire UFC roster. “Listen, I’ve spent a lot of time slaying everyone in the company,” McGregor said. “Backstage I’m starting fights with everybody. I’ve ridiculed everyone on the roster. And I just want to say, from the bottom of me heart, I just want to take this chance to apologise … to absolutely nobody! The double champ does whatever the f*** he wants!”

McGregor also ripped the UFC for not immediately presenting him with two belts after the fight. “Where the f*** is my second belt?” McGregor said. “Cheap motherf***ers. $4.2 billion this company was sold for…”

Asked by Rogan if anything in the fight had surprised him, McGregor replied: “Not one bit.”

“They’re not on my level,” he continued. “You’ve got to have size, reach, length — some attributes. If you come in here in any way equal to me I’m going to rip your whole head off .. I’ve done it every time. Eddie’s a solid competitor, Eddie’s a warrior, but he shouldn’t have been in here with me.”

Tyron Woodley (17-3) retained the welterweight title against Stephen Thompson (13-2) via majority draw (48-47 x 1, 47-47 x 2)

UFC 205 descended into chaos after a blunder by Octagon announcer Bruce Buffer following Tyron Woodley’s defence of the welterweight title against Stephen Thompson.

In strange scenes, Buffer began to announce the result of the fight, before leaving the Octagon to speak to the judges. He returned and announced one judge scored the fight 48-47 in Woodley’s favour, while the other two judges scored it a draw. Buffer proceeded to declare Woodley the winner of the fight — when the correct result was a majority draw. Buffer was then forced to make an embarrassing interruption of Woodley’s post-fight interview to clarify the situation.

“We have a correction,” Buffer announced. “This contest will be scored a majority draw.”

Woodley retains the title after a draw — and now the two combatants seem set for a tantalising rematch. On what we saw today, that’s a must-see fight. Woodley seized control of the fight midway through the opening round by taking down Thompson and then bludgeoning him with punches and elbows. He opened a cut on Thompson’s nose and looked headed for an early stoppage. But Thompson found his rhythm in the second and the third — as Woodley surprisingly opted not to look for another takedown.

The fourth was a round of the year contender. Woodley rocked Wonderboy with a big right hand and followed it up with another that almost finished the challenger. But Thompson refused to concede, surviving a barrage of blows and a tight guillotine to the amazement of the crowd. “Unbelievable, just unbelievable,” commentator Joe Rogan said.

Thompson finished the stronger, giving him a case for rounds two, three and five — but with the knowledge he’d been badly beaten in rounds one and four. In the end two judges couldn’t split the combatants.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk (13-0) defeated Karolina Kowalkiewicz (10-1) via unanimous decision (49-46 x 3)

Joanna Jedrzejczyk continued her dominance of the women’s strawweight division, recording the fourth defence of her title in a willing contest against Karolina Kowalkiewicz.

Jedrzejczyk showed why she’s considered one of the best strikers in the UFC by establishing early dominance from the outside. Not only was she beating her Polish rival to the punch, she also delivered kicks at a rate of seven to one. She looked to be cruising to an easy decision until Kowalkiewicz delivered a game-changing right hand midway through the fourth that seriously rocked the champ.

Jedrzejczyk showed her toughness to survive — and keep trading — and regained a level of control by the end of the round. Kowalkiewicz continued taking serious punishment in the fifth but also created a large contusion near Jedrzejczyk’s eye. In the end it was a clear decision.

“I wasn’t hurt very badly,” Jedrzejczyk said. “Polish girls are the toughest in the world.”

Middleweight

Yoel Romero (12-1-0) defeated Chris Weidman (13-2-0) via TKO (R3, 0:24)

Yoel Romero likely earned a shot at the middleweight title by knocking out former champ Chris Weidman with a brutal knee to the head.

The fight was in the balance entering the third and final round but finished in stunning fashion as Weidman paid for shooting for a takedown.

Romero launched himself as Weidman dived for his legs, crashing his knee into the New York local’s head and opening a huge gash.

“He is just pouring blood,” commentator Joe Rogan said. “He got really badly hurt there.”

Weidman, who lost his title to Luke Rockhold and has now lost two fights in a row after starting his career 13-0, shaded Romero in the opening round with a series of leg kicks. Romero looked to have evened the ledger in the second, tripping Weidman and gaining back control. But the scorecards were made irrelevant.

The Cuban engaged in some entertaining back-and-forth with Michael Bisping after the fight. Bisping, who won the title from Rockhold, is at Madison Square Garden as a commentator and flipped both middle fingers at Romero.

They’re now likely to meet in the New Year.

Women’s Bantamweight

Raquel Pennington (9-6-0) defeated Miesha Tate (18-7-0) via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)

Miesha Tate announced her retirement after a shock decision defeat against Raquel Pennington.

Tate, who coached Pennington on a season of The Ultimate Fighter, said it was time to step aside for the next wave of fighters, ending a career which peaked earlier this year when she won the women’s bantamweight title against Holly Holm.

“It’s not my time anymore,” said Tate, who fought and lost to Ronda Rousey twice in her career. “It’s the future’s time.”

Pennington produced the best performance of her career to finish one of the most popular female fighters in UFC history.

Tate, who won the title from Rousey’s conqueror before losing it to current champ Amanda Nunes at UFC 200, again failed to deal with a superior striker.

Pennington established her jab early in the first round, forcing Tate to look for a takedown. The former champ eventually secured it after a battle to free her neck but she wasn’t able to convert the opportunity into much damage in a round that was hard to call. Pennington maintained the pressure in the second and third rounds, outstriking Tate from distance and the clinch.

12pm

Preliminary card: ‘This is really horrific’

Welterweight

Vicente Luque (10-5-1) defeated Belal Muhammad (10-2-0) by KO (1:19)

Vicente Luque barely raised a sweat in the first fight on the preliminary card, landing the first KO of the night as he turned out Belal Muhammad’s lights.

Just over a minute into the first round, Luque blocked a Muhammad punch before countering with a brutal left hook of his own that caught his opponent flush on the jaw, sending him to the canvas.

A thankful Luque was just grateful for the opportunity to fight on such a historic night for the sport.

“I came here for you guys. I was born in New Jersey, I have family in New Jersey, thankyou guys,” he said to the crowd after the fight.

“I’ve got to thank God. hey, it’s New York, I couldn’t say no.”

Incredibly, Luque took the fight on just two-and-a-half weeks’ notice, and revealed after the win he cut 30 pounds (13.6kg) in that period to book his place in the Octagon.

Middleweight

Tim Boetsch (20-10-0) defeated Rafael Natal (21-8-1) via KO (3:22)

Tim Boetsch was responsible for the second KO of the night, showing no mercy towards Rafael Natal in the first round of their fight. It was the 12th knockout of “The Barbarian’s” career.

He drove Natal towards the cage before unleashing a right that caught him on the chin, and he crumpled to the ground as Boetsch continued the assault before the referee ended the fight.

Boetsch caught him earlier with a right hook and cut him above the eye, which he believed set the tone for how the rest of the fight would unfold.

“My 20th fight in the UFC and finally I feel that sword’s getting nice and sharp and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with that and how far I can go,” Boetsch said after the fight.

“It was kind of a hidden punch but I could see in his eyes that he didn’t want too many more of those.”

Lightweight

Khabib Nurmagomedov (24-0-0) defeated Michael Johnson (18-11-0) via submission (R3, 2:31): ‘This is really horrific’

Michael Johnson was trapped in a personal hell in his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The Russian completely dominated his American opponent for the entire bout. Johnson was never in it.

Nurmagomedov’s ground and pound game was far too strong for the other man in the Octagon. He tried at every opportunity to take the fight to the canvas so his superior grappling could come into play, and the tactic clearly paid off.

Commentator Joe Rogan was in awe of Nurmagomedov’s dominance and kept expecting the referee to stop the fight, not believing anyone could take the amount of punishment Johnson was being subjected to.

“Unbelievable, unbelievable. Man, he got mauled,” Rogan said.

“This is really horrific.”

The ref did eventually stop the fight, although later than Rogan expected, when Nurmagomedov pinned Johnson and looked like he was about to break his arm.

“I thought, ‘Please tap, just please tap, you’re not going to get out of there’,” Rogan said.

“In one of the most talent-stacked divisions, this guy just mauls everyone. No one else does that.

“We’ve never seen anybody do this to Michael Johnson before.”

After the fight ended, Nurmagomedov ran over to the UFC hierarchy and demanded to fight for the lightweight title, before taking control of the microphone and calling out the sport’s decision makers for pandering to megastar Conor McGregor, whom he called a “chicken”.

“I want to stay humble but other guys talk too much,” he said. “I want to fight with your chicken.

“At the beginning of the year your (Ireland’s) man tapped like a chicken, at the end of the year he’s fighting for the title.

“It’s crazy. This is true. Irish only 6 million, Russia 150 million, let me fight your chicken,” he added before going into a spiel in his native language as boos rang out from the crowd.

Featherweight

Frankie Edgar (20-5-1) defeated Jeremy Stephens (25-13-0) via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)

What a way to end the preliminary card.

Fan favourite Frankie Edgar and Jeremy Stephens put on a classic for the crowd at Madison Square Garden, with the former coming out on top courtesy of a unanimous decision.

Both fighters had their moments, but the highlight was undoubtedly a thrilling second round. Edgar started the stronger before getting smashed by a kick to the face, Stephens looking like he would end the fight before it went the distance. But Edgar refused to die, recovering to lock in a guillotine shortly before the bell.

The 35-year-old then stayed strong in the third as both men swung wildly in the final seconds, much to the pleasure of adoring fans.

11am

Bloody opening to UFC 205

Women’s Bantamweight

Liz Carmouche (10-5-0) defeated Katlyn Chookagian (8-1-0) via split decision (29-28 x 2, 28-29)

Liz Carmouche won her first fight in the UFC in more than 18 months, beating Katlyn Chookagian via split decision in the opener at The Garden.

She was the aggressor early, the highlight being a vicious slam in the second round.

Chookagian looked to be getting back into the contest, and the start of the third gave an early taste of what UFC fans can expect from the rest of the event in New York.

The “Blonde Fighter” landed a huge head kick and sent Carmouche to the floor before raining blows down on her face as blood started pouring from her nose.

Somehow, Carmouche managed to recover, and seemed keen to keep the fight on the ground when she wasn’t landing leg kicks.

Although Chookagian looked to have sewn up the final round, Carmouche’s dominance in the first two rounds saw her claim the win.

Lightweight

Jim Miller (28-8-0) defeated Thiago Alves (26-11-0) via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)

Veteran Jim Miller racked up yet another career win with a decision victory over Thiago Alves.

After the American’s opponent failed to make weight for the fight, he stepped up and gained some pounds so he could step into the Octagon in New York.

The momentum shifted often during the bout, while both fighters pulling off some timely takedowns, but Miller was ultimately too strong for the Brazilian.

Originally published as McGregor’s savage UFC burn