UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez admitted he was "nervous" that his title defence against Conor McGregor at UFC 205 would not be done in time for last week's press conference.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on yesterday's MMA Hour broadcast, the 32-year-old said he was unsure whether or not the deal would get done, but insisted his management were never in doubt about securing the fight.
"I was nervous," he said. "My management didn't seem to be, they were very reserved and dealt with it really good [sic]. I was actually shocked to see how well they dealt with it. They kind of called it, they knew what they were doing and the deal got done.
"I was going back and forth that morning, but at the end of the day as long as I was getting up every morning and getting ready to fight, it didn't really matter what happened."
Alvarez beat Rafael Dos Anjos earlier this year to clinch the 155lbs title with a first round TKO and explains that despite being unsure about whether or not the fight with McGregor would go ahead, he was already getting ready for the fight.
"I was preparing, it didn't have to be necessarily for Conor. I was preparing from maybe about six weeks ago and I was back in the gym with my strength and conditioning coaches. We started sparring probably weeks ago as well.
"When this was announced I was already in a camp, I was already preparing and getting ready to be conditioned to fight at MSG (Madison Square Garden)."
He explained the delay on the part of the promotion and says that he was forthright with his intention of securing the bout.
"There was a little bit of gamesmanship on the UFC's part... I don't know what was going on. I seems like a whirlwind. Monday, I believe I was on my way to Mark Henry's [coach] house, I got a text at 3am from Dana [White, UFC president] saying to give him a call.
"I know the press conference was on the following day, so I had an idea that this might be the call.
"He started to talk to me about the same stuff that was going on in the news, the Khabib [Nurgamedov] things and Jose Aldo. I think I just stopped him in his tracks and said 'Look, nobody wants these fights, that's not what I'm being told or what anyone is being told'.
"I said: 'Let's stop all this, 'I'm coming to New York, let's make this deal happen'. Dana took the meeting and my managers came in and we got the deal done that night."
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