FRIDAY NEWS DIGEST 11/18: Alvarez responds to people suggesting he threw the fight against McGregor at UFC 205 (w/Cervantes Analysis)

Eddie Alvarez is still reeling after his second round TKO loss to Conor McGregor at UFC 205 last week.

Alvarez discussed the fight during a podcast with Chael Sonnen and didn’t mince words with how he felt about his performance. “I f—ed up big time,” he said. “The whole f—ing plan, the whole plan of this whole fight, if we had to to sum up the whole plan, it was go left and mostly wrestle. Not wrestle all the time, but go left and put him in wrestling exchanges and put him where he’s uncomfortable.”

He laments deviating from the strategy he and his coaches prepared for this fight and took full responsibility for the loss. “What bugs me about the whole thing is he didn’t do anything we didn’t prepare for,” he said. “I have no one to blame but myself for that. That’s what kind of f—s me up about it and gets me angry. It would be easier if I could go back to my coach and be like ‘you son of a bitch, you didn’t tell me this was going happen.’ We literally got ready for all this and there’s a difference between knowing and doing. We knew, but I didn’t execute.”

He also accepts the criticism he has faced since the fight and sympathizes with those who feel he deliberately lost the bout. “I’ve been getting on my [social media] and I’m getting that I threw the fight,” Alvarez said. “People are like ‘You threw the fight, you threw the fight.’ I literally can understand the people’s frustrations with me and them telling me that. When I watch the fight personally myself, I’m like, I did everything to lose this f—ing fight. I did everything. I couldn’t have done worse for myself. I don’t know if it was because I got buzzed in the beginning of the fight. I can’t really put my finger on it. I fumbled ten times and you can’t win the game fumbling.”

Alvarez plans to take some time off and enjoy the holidays with his family before getting back into the Octagon next year.

Cervantes Analysis: There was never a time where I thought any fight in the UFC was fixed or that a fighter intentionally threw a fight. However, this was the first time that thought crossed my mind because we saw Alvarez completely dominated as if this was his first professional fight. It was shocking to see him engage McGregor on the feet for so long before attempting to take the fight to the ground and, even more so, when he made it to the second round and picked up where he left off. I chose Alvarez to win because I knew his aggressive wrestling style would pose a formidable challenge for McGregor. Alvarez admitted that wrestling was the initial plan, but that he delineated from that once the fight started. Losing the way he did and on the most historic event in company history must have been devastating and I hope he comes back after this. He’ll need to hope that McGregor doesn’t choose to stay at lightweight because it will be a long time before he makes his way back to a title shot after that performance.

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK ITEMS…

-MMAFighting reports that Yoel Romero will challenge Michael Bisping for the UFC Middleweight Title in the Spring of 2017.

-Demian Maia claims the UFC has offered him a fight with Robbie Lawler

-Ben Henderson told MMAJunkie that 2017 could be his last year fighting, as he would like to serve in the army before he is ineligible due to age.

-Lyoto Machida released a statement regarding his suspension via Facebook. “I received a suspension from USADA with my head held up high, even though I don’t agree with it,” he said. “I reiterate that I never had any problem in all my career and always collaborated with USADA. I hoped that the fact that I spontaneously declared which substance I ingested would be taken into consideration. I have always been an honest and transparent person, something that I learned since a young age from my father Yoshizo. The supplement I took, 7-Keto, can be sold anywhere, which reforces the fact that it’s not used for performance enhancement. As I said before, I took it to lower stress levels, as I was coming off two losses and had not fought in some time. By no means did I imagine that the substance could be banned by USADA. The information relayed to the athletes were insufficient. The full list of all prohibited supplements, in an easier way to read, I only received via text message, this week, on the day after my suspension. The previous formats were not clear. To teach and educate should also be the duties of an institution that is committed to the advancement of a clean sport and not only for punishing. Unfortunately USADA did not see my honesty, which was always my priority. I believe that if I had been tried by the athletic commission I would have been heard and would have had a different outcome.” He says in the mean time, he is turning his attention to his new Machida Karate gym he opened in Lomita, California, along with his brother Chinzo. He said he will return to the Octagon. Read his full statement HERE.

-Mark Wahlberg told TMZ that if Conor McGregor wants a piece of UFC ownership, “I’ll give him some of mine.” At first he said McGregor would have to pay for it, but then he said he’d give it to him because he deserves it.

-IMMAF issued a press release to MMATorch announcing that Mexico is the latest nation to join the organization. States the press release: “Mexico is the latest nation to represent the sport of MMA under the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation, as the Mexican Federacion de Artes Marciales Mixtas Equidad y Juego Limpio (FAMMEJL) affiliates to the global governing body. Formally registered in Mexico City, FAMMEJ represents an estimated 80% of the 10,000-strong national MMA community across 20 of Mexico’s states. The Amateur MMA governing body is recognised by INDEPORTE CDMX (National Institute of Sports Mexico City), CLAMM (Latin American Council of Mixed Martial Arts) and CONADE (National Commission of Physical Culture and Sport). … The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation is the international democratic governing body for the sport of MMA, representing stakeholders worldwide – athletes, coaches, referees, governments, athletic commissions, sports confederations, international associations, professional promoters and more. Founded from within the MMA community for the MMA community, the purpose of the IMMAF is to protect and further the regulation, development and recognition of the sport on all levels, enabling international competition through the organization of non-profit, democratic national federations. www.immaf.org.”

NOW CHECK OUT YESTERDAY’S UPDATE HERE: THURSDAY NEWS DIGEST 11/17: Roy Nelson suspension issued for kicking at ref, Lyota Machida suspension issued for violation (w/Hiscoe’s Analysis)