A truly remarkable performance: UFC 205 had many outstanding performances, but main event star, Conor McGregor saved the best until last with a stunning victory against the title holder and immensely talented Eddie Alvarez. Much of what guides our intuitions as to an athletes ability is not just who he beat, but how he beat them. In truth it was shocking to watch the degree to which Mr McGregor used superb control of distance, pace, timing and placement to dismantle such a talented and tough opponent. In doing so he did what he said he would – hold two belts at the same time. Whatever ones opinion of Mr McGregor's public antics outside of fighting, one cannot deny that he has backed up what many see as overly brash talk with brilliant and successful action. Moreover, he has made huge waves in the sport in relatively little time – it was not long ago that people where discussing him as a talented new comer and whether he was really worthy of a title shot at all – now he has two belts around his waist – both won against extremely good opponents via very impressive knockouts. In addition, he has shown a true champions ability to come back from a bad loss in short order and not just rectify the loss, but greatly surpass where he was prior to that loss. Whilst his style seems almost entirely built around the ability to get his dangerous left hand to bear upon his opponent, and there are open questions about his ability to prevail when he can't: no one can deny the incredible achievements he has made with his relatively narrow skill set in a sport where we typically believe a very wide skill set is essential just to survival, let alone world beating success. His lifestyle, his demeanor, his fighting style and his goals all make him the biggest risk taker in the sport – so impressive to see a man stand on the cusp of disaster and ridicule on the basis of those risks – yet through the power of his personality, self belief and skill, turn it all into a bigger triumph. Hats off to a truly great fighter and personality who took the biggest event in MMA history and made it his.
