Eddie Alvarez reveals what he was thinking after Conor McGregor knocked him down for the first time

Santa Claus is real and he is knocking motherf**kers clean out.

Eddie Alvarez had said Santa Claus did not exist. In the early hours of this morning, Santa Claus cleaned his clock, knocked him on his ass four times and took his lightweight belt. It is worth revisiting a couple of comments from before Conor McGregor's UFC 205 fight with Alvarez. Every fighter needs to have a degree of confidence but the words ring out now that this bout is in the books.

Alvarez: "Conor can do well because it is easy to be technical in the first round or two but when the shit hits the fan and it turns into a fight, I will f**king dominate this guy, every step of the way... I feel like I'm about to tell the whole world that there's no Santa Claus and everyone is going to be disappointed. There's no Santa Claus; he doesn't exist." McGregor: "He’s too easily hit. Through all the talk and through everything else, he can be hit too easily. It’s happened to him his whole career. When you’re talking about someone with the precision I have, I’m going to hit him and he’s going to fall. Maybe if his toughness holds up he will survive but then his face will be rearranged. That’s what I predict."

The shit hit the fan alright and Alvarez was left in a heap. Nobody can take that left hand, McGregor once said. Nate Diaz got dropped by it at UFC 202 but he appears to only man to be able to live with 'The Irish Cross'. Alvarez was rocked early as McGregor proved the hype was real. https://www.instagram.com/p/BMw5jkRA7SK/?tagged=conormcgregor In a post-fight interview with Megan Olivi, Alvarez had the look of a man that had seen a jolly, bearded man scoot into the sky on a reindeer-powered sleigh. Asked about that first McGregor knock-down, his admission was stunning. He said:

"I think I threw a shot and he came over the top because I don't even remember really. "I just remember being on the floor and thinking 'Wow that was quick, whatever that was it was fast'."

It was a hell of a punch from a hell of a fighter. And they kept coming until Big John McCarthy called a stop to the punishment. Of course, fight fans were not going to allow those Santa comments to rest. https://twitter.com/DaRealJamRizzle/status/797695096393240577 https://twitter.com/LordMoloch/status/797700241650753536 https://twitter.com/DanDempsey139/status/797844405130592256 Karma's a bitch https://twitter.com/AbstractDeer/status/797682873402871808 Christmas is back on the cards folks. Catch up with the latest episode of Football Friday Live here