– Paul Dollery reports from New York
THERE MAY HAVE been a rather muted atmosphere at Wednesday’s open workouts, but the raucous crowd that you’d normally associate with Conor McGregor were out in force at last night’s press conference at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
Just over 48 hours before their headline bout tomorrow night at UFC 205, Alvarez and McGregor took questions from the media. UFC president Dana White acted as moderator, while four of the other fighters on the card — Tyron Woodley, Stephen Thompson, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Karolina Kowalkiewicz — made up the supporting cast.
The majority of the couple of thousand fans in attendance were in McGregor’s corner, but Alvarez — who grew up 100 miles down the road in Philadelphia — had plenty of back-up. As soon as the defending UFC lightweight champion emerged, the taunts from McGregor’s followers began. But Alvarez was prepared and he was on the offensive from the outset.
“Go home!” he roared to the Irish fans to his left. “Where’s your boy?”
The press conference began with McGregor’s seat unoccupied, just as it had been prior to his win against Nate Diaz last August. Dana White assured fans that the Dubliner was on his way, as Alvarez proceeded to take questions from the media.
“I’m prepared to completely destroy Conor McGregor,” Alvarez said. The comment was greeted by a chorus of jeers, before he added: “I’m going to silence this whole damn crowd. Look, Philly’s right here. Philadelphia is right here. Where’s my opponent? Where’s he at?”
When asked about McGregor’s absence, Alvarez said: “I’m half-Irish. I’m disappointed in the country of Ireland right now that this is their representative. This is your representative. Where is he? Where is he?”
As the Irish fans responded with a variety of expletives, Dana White interjected — “Hey, this is on TV, calm down!” — but the smile on the face of the UFC president told its own story.
Moments later, the other chair beside White on the stage was also vacant. Just as Nate Diaz did three months ago, Alvarez decided not to stick around while his rival was nowhere to be seen: “I don’t even have an opponent. I’ll see you guys tomorrow. When he comes, give me a call.”
The press conference continued for seven minutes without either of the fighters involved in the main event present, which left Dana White looking slightly uncomfortable. But as has been the case for the majority of these events that he’s been involved in, McGregor arrived behind schedule.
Sporting a mink coat and a garish red polo neck and pants, McGregor danced his way onto the stage and eventually took his seat, but not before snatching up the UFC belt that Alvarez had left behind: “Sorry I’m late, I just don’t give a fuck!”
McGregor, who’s aiming to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two UFC titles at the same time, subsequently had two belts in front of him on the table when he finally took his seat. But not for long.
Alvarez reappeared and grabbed one of the two belts, with Dana White stepping in to keep both men apart. As Alvarez sought to antagonise McGregor by slamming a chair down behind him, McGregor threatened to launch it back in his opponent’s direction before being escorted off the stage by White and a member of security.
After taking a moment to regroup, McGregor returned to his seat and the verbal jousting began.
“I don’t give a fuck what Eddie says,” McGregor barked. “Who gives a fuck? The Irish are back. We’ve taken back control of New York City. I run New York City. I’m a fucking pimp rocking Gucci mink and without me this whole fucking ship sinks.”
Dana White had warned McGregor about his tardiness in Las Vegas in August, but it clearly wasn’t heeded: “I operate on my time. I operate on my own time and I’m running early on my time.”
Alvarez and McGregor went back-and-forth with the insults, none of which were particularly refined — “Suck these big Irish balls! These big Irish balls all in your face!” McGregor said at one stage — and after a surprisingly restrained staredown to conclude the press conference, they went their separate ways. The pair will go head-to-head for the final time at this evening’s ceremonial weigh-ins [11pm Irish time].
The fans in attendance and many others watching around the world lapped it up, but the pantomime press conference was probably more suited to Broadway than one of the world’s great sporting arenas. Nevertheless, it’s only likely to have an upward impact on the pay-per-view figures for UFC 205.
Not everyone is captivated by the tedious theatrics, however. With each McGregor outing, you’re forced to dig deeper and deeper before unearthing the sport beneath the showbiz — which is regrettable, because when everything else has been stripped away, he’s one of the most impressive athletes currently competing in any code.
