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UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor is an upcoming mixed martial arts event promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will be held on November 12, 2016 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.


Official fight card

Main Card

Lightweight Eddie Alvarez (c) vs. Conor McGregor (c) For the UFC Lightweight Championship.
Welterweight Tyron Woodley (c) vs. Stephen Thompson For the UFC Welterweight Championship.
Women's Strawweight Joanna Jedrzejczyk (c) vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz For the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship.
Middleweight Chris Weidman vs. Yoel Romero
Welterweight Kelvin Gastelum vs. Donald Cerrone
Women's Bantamweight Miesha Tate vs. Raquel Pennington

Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)

Featherweight Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens
Lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Michael Johnson
Middleweight Rafael Natal vs. Tim Boetsch
Welterweight Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

Lightweight Jim Miller vs. Thiago Alves
Women's Bantamweight Liz Carmouche vs. Katlyn Chookagian



Background

This event will be the first UFC event hosted in New York City. It will also be the first UFC event hosted in the State of New York after the longtime professional MMA ban was revoked in early 2016. To this point, UFC 7 was the only event contested in the state, taking place in September 1995 at Buffalo.

The UFC worked tirelessly to surpass the law that forbade professional mixed martial arts events in the state, including a drastic measure: they announced an event (UFC 197) for the Madison Square Garden, despite the ban still being in effect. However, it was announced that a preliminary injunction allowing the promotion to hold the event was denied by a federal judge. The event was eventually moved and contested in the promotion's home base of Las Vegas, Nevada.


Main card: three title bouts, including a champion vs. champion contest

The event is expected to be headlined by a UFC Lightweight Championship bout between current champion Eddie Alvarez and current UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor. This will be the second time in UFC history that champions in different divisions will fight for the same title. The first time was at UFC 94 on January 31, 2009, when then-welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre defended his title against then-lightweight Champion B.J. Penn.

Alvarez was originally expected to make his first title defense against undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, but it was announced on September 21 that Alvarez missed the contract deadline for the bout and in consequence it was expected to take place at UFC 206 in December. Meanwhile, McGregor was previously expected to challenge for the lightweight title at UFC 196 in February against then champion Rafael dos Anjos. Dos Anjos eventually pulled out due to a broken foot and the bout never materialized.

In the co-main event slot, will be a UFC Welterweight Championship bout between current champion Tyron Woodley and five-time kickboxing world champion Stephen Thompson is expected to take place at this event.

A third title fight, a UFC Women's Strawweight Championship bout between the current champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Karolina Kowalkiewicz is also expected to be part of the card. The duo met previously in their amateur days in 2012, when Jedrzejczyk defeated Kowalkiewicz via submission in the Amatorska Liga MMA Tournament final.

Former UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman and 2000 Olympic silver medalist and former world champion in freestyle wrestling Yoel Romero have been slated for this portion event.

A welterweight bout between former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler and former lightweight title challenger Donald Cerrone was the first confirmed bout of the event. However, just a few days after the announcement, it was revealed the Lawler decided to take a little more time to get ready for the fight after losing his title via knockout at UFC 201. He was replaced by The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen middleweight winner Kelvin Gastelum, who was scheduled to face Jorge Masvidal one week earlier than the event.

Opening the main card will be a women's bantamweight bout between former Strikeforce and UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate and Raquel Pennington.
Preliminary card: former champions and title challengers stack the under-card

A featherweight contest between former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Jeremy Stephens is also scheduled to take place at the event.

Despite being originally expected to face Alvarez, Khabib Nurmagomedov will face Michael Johnson instead in a potential lightweight title eliminator.

A pair middleweight bouts between Tim Kennedy and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and divisional newcomer Rashad Evans, as well as Tim Boetsch against Rafael Natal are slated for this portion of the event.

A lightweight bout between Al Iaquinta and former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves was previously linked to UFC 202. However, the pairing was initially delayed and was expected to be contested at this event. Subsequently, Iaquinta announced on September 19 that he pulled out due to a contract dispute with the promotion. He was replaced by Jim Miller.

To complete the card, there will be a women's bantamweight bout between former title challenger Liz Carmouche and Katlyn Chookagian.

A welterweight bout between former Bellator Welterweight Champion Lyman Good and Belal Muhammad was scheduled for the preliminary portion of the event However on October 24, Good was pulled from the card after being notified by USADA due to a potential anti-doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected ten days earlier. Additional information or UFC statements will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward. He was replaced by Vicente Luque.

A light heavyweight bout between Gian Villante and Marcos Rogério de Lima was briefly linked to the event. However, Villante pulled out of the fight on September 21 citing injury and the bout was scrapped.

A long rumoured middleweight bout between Tim Kennedy and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and divisional newcomer Rashad Evans was scheduled for the event.[28] However on November 8, Evans was pulled from the fight after an undisclosed irregularity found during his pre-fight medical exam.


Oct 25 - Updated fight card & background
Nov 08 - Updated fight card & background

Oct 25 - Updated fight card & background

Nov 08 - Updated fight card & background

Weigh-ins

At the weigh-ins, Alves missed weight by six pounds, weighing in at 162.6 lbs. Miller, who was already on weight, had to rehydrate to keep their weight difference within 7 pounds. Because of that, he came in at 157.6 lbs and the bout proceeded at catchweight. New York State Athletic Commission and UFC officials indicated that Alves must not weigh more than 173 lbs the day of the fight or the fight would be cancelled. As a result, Alves was fined 20% of his fight purse, which went to Miller. Gastelum did not show up to the weigh-ins, announcing via twitter that he would not fight Cerrone "on account that he couldn't make the weight limit". Cerrone had already successfully weighed in at 170.4 lbs. UFC president Dana White announced that Gastelum will never be allowed to fight at welterweight in the organization again and that he believes Gastelum missed weight by 10 pounds. Consequently, Cerrone was quickly rescheduled and is expected to face Matt Brown the following month at UFC 206.