Common opponent Eddie Alvarez says Conor McGregor would knock out Justin Gaethje

Only three men in history have shared the octagon with both Conor McGregor and Justin Gaethje. So when it comes to analyzing a potential fight between them, Eddie Alvarez is uniquely qualified.

Although interim UFC lightweight champ Gaethje (22-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) is expected to have a title unification bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov next, the possibility of McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) inserting himself into the situation is entirely plausible.

Not only has McGregor already made the push on social media, but with Nurmagomedov tending to his reportedly ill father, it puts questions around the September timeline for his return to the octagon.

Alvarez, the former champ of the 155-pound division, suffered a second-round knockout loss to McGregor at UFC 205 in November 2016. He beat Gaethje by third-round knockout in December 2017, and having seen both sides of the coin, “The Underground King” sees an advantage for McGregor.

“I think a knockout (for McGregor),” Alvarez told TheScore. “I was able to catch (Gaethje) quite a bit with punches, and you watch, Dustin (Poirier) was able to box him a little bit.”

Only Dustin Poirier and Donald Cerrone have also shared the cage with both men, but Alvarez’s total fight time against McGregor and Gaethje was greater than anyone. Alvarez does believe a path to victory exists for Gaethje, but he wouldn’t expect him to use it once the octagon door closed with McGregor.

“The thing with Justin, if I thought he was going to implement a ground game and go in there and take Conor McGregor down and put him against the cage and do what Khabib did, or do what I intended to do, if he was going to implement that game, I would say, ‘Justin is going to do really well against him,’” Alvarez said. “Just standing for standing, is what I feel like it’ll end up being, there’s just too many mistakes Justin would end up making and Conor would be able to kind of capitalize.”

Alvarez left the UFC in mid-2018 and joined ONE Championship. However, he keeps table on his old division, and McGregor vs. Gaethje is one he’d like to see unfold.