Even the biggest Conor McGregor haters better recognize: the Irishman is just as special inside the octagon as he is outside of it.
Eddie Alvarez has long been recognized as one of the best lightweight fighters in the world. A former Bellator champion, two-time Fight of the Year Winner and most recently, a former UFC lightweight champion, he is a man respected by both peers and analysts alike. McGregor made him look like an amateur at UFC 205. He even toyed with him, just like he predicted.
McGregor Makes History at UFC 205
It was a performance reminiscent of a prime Anderson Silva dropping his hands and dropping former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin after masterful bobbing and weaving. Like McGregor, Silva was seen as “vulnerable” to wrestling, yet that didn’t stop the Brazilian from dominating an entire division and racking up the record for most title defenses.
Now, McGregor is a two-division champion, the first ever, in the biggest MMA organization in the world. The fight world is at his feet. He’s free to call his next shot, to dream as big as his imagination. Wherever that leads, we are all witnesses.
Hopefully, you took our advice and placed a bet on McGregor to win. It was obvious to me that he was being undervalued at -150, and that a 50% return on your bet was a fantastic value. So who else came through for your fight picks?
Let’s take a look, based on the UFC odds at BookMaker.eu.
What Happens With a Majority Draw?
Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson battled for five tough rounds and came to an unsatisfactory result: two of the judges scored it a tie, resulting in a rare majority draw.
With UFC betting at BookMaker, betting on a draw wasn’t an available option, so this is a push. Everybody gets their money back.
The fight was largely disappointing, with Woodley’s frustrating habits of backing up into the fence and refusing to engage on full display. A fourth round flurry where he nearly finished Thompson saved his night, but also begs the question of why he doesn’t utilize his astounding explosiveness more – especially with his title on the line.
J-Check Wins, But Still Loses
Strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk outclassed challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz, but failed to impress the largest audience of her career.
This was an opportunity to showcase her extremely violent skillset and win over throngs of new fans, but at no point did she ever have KK in trouble. In fact, the challenger rocked her in the fourth to make it interesting.
Still, she came through as more than a 4-1 MMA betting favorite. The best values came on the over/under, as the over was -180 in this case – a much better payout than JJ to win. Hopefully you didn’t take the advice to bet the under.
RIP, Chris Weidman
Not only did Weidman lose in his homecoming at MSG, he lost in the night’s most devastating fashion, as Romero broke his face with a flying knee. Romero came through as a significant +182 UFC underdog.
Though our earlier fight preview picked Weidman to win, we did note in an underdog article that any time the Cuban is an underdog, he should be considered.
Goodbye, Miesha Tate
Pennington scored a minor upset as a +113 underdog, which is understandable considering that Tate’s inability to evolve her striking left her extremely vulnerable against improving standup artists.
But her retirement announcement was a shocker, considering that still were plenty of significant fights left for her at bantamweight. If she’s truly gone, MMA lost one of its classiest fighters and a true pioneer for the UFC women’s fight game.
Frankie the Giant-Slayer
Though Frankie was a huge -335 favorite going into his bout with Jeremy Stephens, the fight itself was much closer than the odds suggested.
Stephens stepped into the cage looking like he was two weight classes heavier than the former lightweight champion. Edgar’s ability to beat significantly bigger men through footwork and superb wrestling is simply amazing.
Khabib Balls Hard
Michael Johnson lit undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov up in the opening moments of the fight, tagging with hard shots that made it looked like a huge upset was possible.
But the Russian quickly righted the ship with his unstoppable wrestling, beating the hell out of a helpless Johnson – a legitimate contender – to the point where you just kept hoping for the ref to stop the fight.
If there’s anyone that is a credible threat to McGregor, it’s this Dagestani mauler.
For more UFC news check out 3 Crazy UFC Money Fights We Hope Pan Out and our Odds Comparison Section.
