Eddie Alvarez admits he got his tactics wrong for the UFC lightweight title fight against Conor McGregor.
The former champion struggled throughout the fight with McGregor asserting his superiority with a strong boxing game. 'The Notorious' eventually chipped his opponent apart in the second round and secured the title with a flurry of shots to force the referee to stop the fight.
The result allowed McGregor to create history by becoming the first dual-weight champion in UFC history while Alvarez is left with his regrets.
After the fight, Alvarez told the press that he failed to implement his own gameplan and was unable to match McGregor's boxing style.
"I fought a bad fight. The idea wasn't to go in there and box. We started throwing kicks and the kicks were successful, I would have kicked more. We didn't wrestle enough, the idea was to go in there and wrestle, I'm not quite sure why I didn't do that tonight and I paid the price for it."
"I've been in the fight game for years. I've never defined myself by a win and I'll never define myself by a loss, this is the game. Sometimes you're crazy victorious, sometimes you lose, you put your suit on, you face the music and you answer."
He added that he was stunned by the impact of some of the shots McGregor landed throughout the bout.
"The first time I was dropped, I remember being on my butt and I was like 'wow that was quick, whatever that was it was fast.' I been there before a lot of times in my career where I've been dropped. I don't panic, pretty much get my composure back up. But his speed and timing were very good, you could tell he's got years of boxing behind him."
"It's incredible. My hats off to him, he did a phenomenal job and he continues to do a good job for the sport of MMA."
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