Friday 28 October 2016 09:44, UK
UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has vowed to finish Conor McGregor inside two rounds when the pair meet at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden on November 12.
McGregor, the UFC's reigning featherweight champion, is attempting to make history by becoming the first champion in the promotion's history to hold two belts simultaneously.
It is a feat McGregor was scheduled to attempt against former champion Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196 in March, but the Brazilian injured his foot and the Irishman went on to lose by second-round submission to replacement opponent Nate Diaz.
McGregor avenged that defeat in August with a majority-decision victory in his rematch with Diaz but Alvarez has seen a chink in the 28-year-old's armour and he intends to exploit it in New York in just over two weeks.
"I think we do it under the nine minute mark," Alvarez told FOX Sports. "Big, big heavy shots, he goes down and then submission.
"I can see it ending much like the (Nate) Diaz fight where I land the heavy shot and then I finish with a submission."
McGregor's rematch with Diaz is a frontrunner for fight of the year and the "Notorious One" earned many plaudits for the manner in which he battled through adversity during the back-and-forth battle.
After dropping Diaz three times during the first two rounds, McGregor took some heavy punishment in the third before bouncing back in the fourth to re-establish his supremacy. He did just enough in the fifth to seal the win.
Rarely in McGregor's rapid rise to UFC superstardom has he been tested in such a fashion but Alvarez plans to do so again and he is confident McGregor will wilt under the pressure.
"From what I've seen in the past and what he's done in the past, (his heart) is very questionable and I'm not the only one who's questioned it," Alvarez said.
"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."
