Eddie Alvarez felt “unthreatened” by Conor McGregor during staredown

Earlier this month, after it was announced that Conor McGregor would be moving to lightweight to fight Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight championship in the main event of the UFC’s historic UFC 205 fight card, the pair came face to face for their first staredown at the end of the first UFC 205 press conference.

While the situation was an intense one that saw UFC President Dana White have to get between the men as they pushed back & forth, Alvarez says that he has never felt as unthreatened during a staredown as he did with McGregor.

He spoke to MMAFighting:

“Usually when square off with a man, my heart rate goes up, I feel something,” Alvarez said. “I never felt so unthreatened by a human being as when I was up on a stage with him. That’s the God’s honest truth. I’ve never felt so unthreatened.”

The way Alvarez sees it, McGregor is a one dimensional fighter. During the course of the UFC 205 press conference he pointed out that McGregor has picked his opponents, with the only wrestler he’s faced before being Chad Mendes. In addition, Alvarez has stated that McGregor isn’t a championship level fighter and gasses out in the second round. That comment from Alvarez drew much criticism, with a fan even getting on the mic to verbally blast the lightweight champ for his comments.

He continued his analysis of McGregor’s skill set in the interview:

“They have a well-rounded skill set and even if the fight goes to another realm of MMA, from standing up, to ground, to jiu-jitsu, everyone is tough in each one,” Alvarez said. “They’re well versed, to the point where they can hang with some of the toughest guys in the world in any aspect of the sport. And I don’t think [McGregor] can, from what I’ve seen.”

“The conditioning aspect is just not a good level of conditioning,” the lightweight champ said. “The last Nate Diaz fight was a very big eye opener for me.”