UFC 205's Eddie Alvarez takes full blame for Conor McGregor loss - 'Fighting the way I did was a death sentence'

Congrats to Connor and his camp on an amazing accomplishment , these guys continue to deliver ,hats off to you fellas . As for my performance , the only thing I can honestly say was I fucking blew it ... I did nothing I trained , I did the complete opposite of what we planned on a daily basis for 10 weeks . To sum up our plan in a sentence it was "Go left and mostly wrestle " instead I circled into his left hand and mostly boxed . 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 . If there was a list of what not to do against an Opponent of this nature I did them all on Saturday . I am disappointed in myself and this is not a reflection of my coaches , training Partners , and the endless hours of training I commit to this sport . Every Time I get into the cage I negotiate being vulnerable and possibly embarrassed against the opportunity to do something great and Grow more . I always choose the latter regardless of the uncomfortability and anxiety it brings to me , I think this choice is the only reason I ever succeeded in the first place . 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 thats going to be written , I am very uneasy and discontent for the most part . I am lucky to have my wife and my child at a time like this to help me laugh and smile and let me know everything's gonna be all right , they are my saving Grace , without them I am a shell of a man . Besides the outcome I thoroughly enjoyed fight week and the lead up , it was a lot fun . I have never defined myself off one win and I'll never define myself off one loss ,I simply had a bad night .. I'll have the opportunity again to have a good one ,, and I'll make the Walk to see what I got Everytime . Thanx for listening -EA

A photo posted by Eddie Alvarez (@ealvarezfight) on Nov 15, 2016 at 7:20am PST

More than 48 hours removed from his second round technical knockout loss to Conor McGregor in UFC 205's monumental pay-per-view (PPV) event, former Lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez, is still riding the rollercoaster of emotions. He has gone from "foolish" disbelief to now sadness, posting an emotional message on his Instagram account earlier this morning, admitting that the fault for the defeat lies at his feet.

Alvarez reveals that wrestling was supposed to be an integral focus of the gameplan, the same skillset that helped him earn decision victories over former division champion, Anthony Pettis, as well as former Strikeforce 155-pound kingpin, Gilbert Melendez. However, the moment Alvarez got tagged by the Irishman's left hand (watch highlights here), that gameplan -- along with the world title he worked a professional lifetime to capture -- all went out the window.

Perhaps that's the reason John Kavanagh revealed after the bout that the team viewed Alvarez as a "massive mismatch." He is a short, stocky brawler-wrestler similar to Chad Mendez and nothing like a long, lanky scrapper like Nate Diaz, who gave McGregor fits -- and a submission loss -- earlier this year. In hindsight, the stars aligned for McGregor's history-making path. He leap-frogged top-ranked Lightweight contenders such as Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, two hungry and motivated fighters who present nightmare style match ups for "Notorious." He won't be able to avoid them for long, though, no matter what he says, now that he's atop the Lightweight division.

Unless, of course, UFC decides to book a No. 1 contender eliminator match while McGregor "takes some time" away from the sport. That would certainly erase one significant roadblock to a lengthy Lightweight title reign ... at least in the short-term.