"Who gives a s***?"

That was Eddie Alvarez's reaction earlier this week when asked what Conor McGregor's big announcement would be after UFC 205 on November 12.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in the UK. Alvarez spoke candidly about his fight with the Irishman in nine days' time at Madison Square Garden in New York City. While some are saying it's the biggest MMA fight in history, the man from Philadelphia doesn't even believe it's the biggest fight of his career.

"No, I would have had wins that have meant more to me than this one," Alvarez said. "As far as shutting [McGregor's] mouth and giving him some humility, it will be an honor.

"I think he did a good job getting this fight, selling the fight, and promoting it. This will break every record in UFC history bar attendance. And the only reason it won't break attendance is because Madison Square Garden is a smaller arena.

"A lot of people will show up to cheer for him, but a lot of people are also going to show up and enjoy watching him be defeated."

The preparation

Speaking about the way his training camp had gone, the UFC lightweight champion said everything had slotted into place and that his work with Mark Henry and company over the past few weeks had been invaluable.

"Before the fight was even announced, I was already four weeks into a training camp," Alvarez said. "I have one more hard sparring session left on Friday, and we had a really good one on Wednesday.

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"The people and coaches I work with are like no other camp in the world. We're a small group and because of that, every detail gets paid attention to and it makes for a very fast learning curve. We spar and we critique, we spar and we correct.

"My coaches couldn't be happier. Every week we've progressed. Every week we've got faster, stronger, and got more endurance. We're ready, 100 percent ready."

The breakdown

Alvarez believes that his experience will be a big advantage over McGregor on November 12 and that the Irishman hasn't faced anything like the level of competition that he has.

"Throughout my long career, I've fought the best in the world, and I don't think he (McGregor) has," Alvarez said. "When you talk about Rafael dos Anjos, Donald Cerrone, and Gilbert Melendez, these are guys who have been in the sport for over 10 years, fighting the best in the world and proving themselves.

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"I feel like he still has proving to do if he wants to call himself one of the best. He is going to have to get through a guy like me to even be able to scratch at that."

While doubting his experience, Alvarez wasn't totally dismissive of the Irishman's skills and conceded that he would be dangerous early on in the fight.

"Of course, he has that left hand, and I think he has good reflexes," Alvarez said. "I think his reflexes are some of the quickest in the division, but it only lasts for seven or eight minutes and then it goes away. It's a non-issue after that time."

The prediction

He then gave his prediction for the fight and said that he didn't think the fight would be needing a third round.

"I think the fight will end inside of two rounds," Alvarez said. "Around the nine-minute mark I should be able to overcome him. We will put him in some bad situations early and start getting him to doubt himself and when that happens, it's the beginning of the end."

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