Before UFC 229: A look at 7 of the biggest UFC shows of all time

#7: UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor – 11/12/2016 – New York, New York

Conor McGregor highlighted the UFC's return to New York with a knockout of Eddie Alvarez

Why was it a big show?

The UFC had been attempting to run a show in New York for years prior to 2016, but MMA had always remained outlawed in the state. The longtime ban was finally lifted in early 2016 though, and when the UFC booked the famous Madison Square Garden to host UFC 205 in November, it was always destined to be a monster event.

Sure enough, the promotion delivered hugely – booking the first show to have three title fights since 2001’s disastrous UFC 33. Those would see Joanna Jedrzejczyk defend her Strawweight title against Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Tyron Woodley defend his Welterweight title against Stephen Thompson, and in the main event, Featherweight champ Conor McGregor attempt to become the first man to hold two UFC titles in separate weight classes by challenging Eddie Alvarez for the Lightweight title.

McGregor had already drawn two huge pay-per-view buyrates in 2016 – both alongside Nate Diaz – and UFC 202, in particular, had been a success, breaking the longtime record buyrate of UFC 100. Many observers expected UFC 205 to set another new record.

What happened?

For the most part, UFC 205 succeeded. The main card was largely excellent, with Yoel Romero’s knockout of Chris Weidman being a highlight. Jedrzejczyk and Woodley both successfully defended their titles in entertaining fights – Woodley vs. Thompson was awarded the Fight of the Night – and everything built nicely to the huge main event between McGregor and Alvarez.

That fight was surprisingly one-sided, as McGregor simply destroyed Alvarez over two rounds – knocking him down on multiple occasions – to take his second UFC title. It was a stunning performance from the Irish fighter – but wasn’t quite enough to break UFC 202’s box office numbers, as the UFC fans somehow bought into his rivalry with Diaz more heavily than they did his title challenge.

Still, at 1.3m pay-per-view buys it’d be hard to call UFC 205 anything but a major success, and despite holding multiple events in New York since – including a return to MSG in late 2017 – they haven’t really been able to top the magic of this show since.

Success rating: *****