Eddie Alvarez did not attend the UFC 205 post-fight press conference and has been relatively quiet since the weekend. On Tuesday, he took to Instagram to react to his loss to Conor McGregor.
The former lightweight champion wrote in the post that he completely abandoned his game plan and he's very emotional about having the opportunity on such a huge stage at Madison Square Garden and coming up well short. McGregor beat him to win the belt by second-round TKO and the fight was never competitive.
"As for my performance , the only thing I can honestly say was I f*cking blew it," Alvarez wrote. " ... I did nothing I trained , I did the complete opposite of what we planned on a daily basis for 10 weeks."
The Philadelphia native, who was making his first title defense, said the game plan was to go left and "mostly wrestle." That's not what happened. Alvarez was dropped early by a McGregor left hand and then dropped again before the conclusion of the first round. McGregor finished in the second with a wicked combination.
"Instead I circled into his left hand and mostly boxed," Alvarez wrote. "Fighting the way I did was a for sure death sentence and the result was fitting. I say it all the time, there is really small margin for error at this level and I paid for my mistakes. I managed to make it to the biggest stage and audience in my long career and fucked it all up when I arrived , my heart sincerely hurts and when I dwell on it I fill up with regret and anger."
With the victory, McGregor became the first UFC fighter to hold two titles in two different weight classes at the same time. "The Notorious" is also the featherweight champion.
The bout was the most lucrative of the 32-year-old Alvarez's illustrious career. He likely made more than a $1 million for the UFC's first event in New York City. But that doesn't seem to matter to him right now.
"I thought in my head at least making a lot of money would make me happy but I am having a lot of trouble enjoying myself regardless of the check that's going to be written," Alvarez said. "I am very uneasy and discontent for the most part."
"The Underground King," who has been a champion in multiple other organizations, vowed to come back from this.
"I have never defined myself off one win and I'll never define myself off one loss, I simply had a bad night," he wrote. "I'll have the opportunity again to have a good one and I'll make the walk to see what I got every time."