Eddie Alvarez: “Conor’s not a championship fighter”

Top lightweight contender Eddie Alvarez will receive his first shot at UFC gold this July, when he takes on current champ Rafael dos Anjos for the promotions lightweight title in Las Vegas.

Alvarez was a recent guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, where he discussed the major holes he sees in UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s game. His words:

“That wasn’t the secret I was talking about,” Alvarez told Helwani. “The secret I was talking about is just taking the guy down, dumping him on his head, and then submitting him.”

He continued:

“Nate has a reach, and I think everybody was so up on Conor, and Nate just has this, he has a weirdly long, long reach, and it’s difficult to deal with,” Alvarez said. “Unless you have guys in front of you who are 6’, 6’2″ boxers throwing punches at you, it’s hard to prepare in that way. He’s sort of an awkward opponent to deal with, and you need the right guys in front of you to deal with that. Conor just couldn’t adjust.”

Alvarez, who has been in to the ‘championship rounds’ three times during his MMA career, doesn’t believe that McGregor has the stamina to go five rounds hard:

“And to be honest with you, Conor’s a one-or-two-round fighter,” Alvarez said. “He’s not a championship fighter, you know what I mean? He’s a one-or-two-round guy. He’ll be a lifer, I think, in three-rounders. If he ever decides to do five-rounders or go past to five, I think most of his fights are going to look like that. He’s going to take a dump.”

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