Alvarez calls the round and method vs. McGregor

Muhammad Ali was extraordinarily brash, called the round he would win in, and captured the media’s attention like no one in combat sports. But he could take a shot better than anyone in the division. There was a hideous cost to his willingness to take a beating, but Muhammad Ali could take a beating.

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is extraordinarily brash, calls the round he will win in, and has captured the media’s attention like no one in combat sports. But questions remain about his ability to fight on when he is not winning.

There are no such questions about lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez. There is no quit in The UnderGround King, and he believes that will make the difference.

“From what I’ve seen in the past and what he’s done in the past, [his heart] is very questionable,” said Alvarez to Damon Martin for FOX Sports. “And I’m not the only one who’s questioned it. I think he has quit in him and I think it takes a tad of adversity and him to get into a little bit of a fight to pull it out of him.

“On November 12, I’m going to pull it out of him and I’m going to show it to millions of people and the crowd. Everybody’s going to see it. We’re going to reveal the quit.”

“I think we do it under the nine-minute mark. Big, big heavy shots, he goes down and then submission. I can see it ending much like the Diaz fight where I land the heavy shot and then I finish with a submission.”

Eddie Alvarez fights Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 205 on November 12, 2016, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.