UFC: Conor McGregor would knock out Justin Gaethje, says Eddie Alvarez – ‘I was able to catch him’
- Before UFC 249 played out, Alvarez said he thought Gaethje would need to implement a ground game to beat McGregor
- ‘Standing for standing, I feel there’s too many mistakes Justin would make, and Conor would be able to kinda capitalise’
Couple that with the coronavirus crisis in Dagestan, where “The Eagle” is locked down, and maybe Conor McGregor’s guarantee that he will fight interim champ Justin Gaethje next could come true.
Many are wondering how such a match-up might go, and few are in a better position to pontificate on the outcome of a potential meeting in the Octagon than Eddie Alvarez, who has fought both.
“Yeah, I think a knockout [for McGregor]. I was able to catch him [Gaethje] quite a bit with punches. And you watch that Dustin [Poirier] was able to box him a little bit,” former UFC lightweight champ Alvarez told James Lynch in a recent appearance on The Score MMA Podcast, before UFC 249 took place.
TKO losses to “The Underground King” Alvarez in December 2017 and “The Diamond” Poirier in April 2018 are the only blemishes on Gaethje’s MMA record (22-2). His other five bouts in the UFC have all ended in knockout or TKO wins, and he’s picked up nine post-fight bonuses along the way.
He has since changed his approach to fighting with coach Trevor Wittman helping him implement a more patient game plan that paid big dividends against Tony Ferguson on May 9 – something which may have made Alvarez re-evaluate his opinion, to be fair.
But Alvarez, who was picked apart by McGregor in a second-round TKO at UFC 205 in November 2016, said last month he believes Gaethje wouldn’t have enough on the feet to trouble the Irishman.
“The thing with Justin is, if I thought he would implement a ground game, and he was gonna go in there and take Conor down and put him against the cage and do that, kinda do what Khabib did [against McGregor], do what I intended to do, if he was gonna implement that game, I would say Justin’s gonna do really well against him,” Alvarez added.
“But just standing for standing, like a stand-up fight, which is what I feel like it’ll end up being, I feel like there’s just too many mistakes that Justin would make, and Conor would be able to kinda capitalise.”
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