Matches to Make After UFC 205

Conor McGregor accomplished a feat for the ages.

The Irishman became the first competitor in Ultimate Fighting Championship history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously, as he stopped Eddie Alvarez on second-round punches to capture the lightweight crown in the UFC 205 headliner on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Alvarez succumbed to blows 3:04 into Round 2, giving McGregor possession of championship gold at 145 and 155 pounds.

Alvarez elected to stand with the SBG Ireland superstar and paid a steep price. McGregor kept the Philadelphia native on the end of his punches, floored him twice inside the first five minutes and established his superiority with breathtaking ease. A little more than midway through the second round, he cut loose with a blistering four-punch combination that sent Alvarez crashing to the canvas and prompted referee John McCarthy to intervene on his behalf.

McGregor outpaced Alvarez in the significant strikes landed department by a 32-9 margin, according to FightMetric figures. He has won 16 of his past 17 bouts and avenged the lone defeat in that stretch.

In wake of UFC 205 “Alvarez vs. McGregor,” here are eight matches that ought to be made (online betting):

Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz: Smart businesspeople strike while the iron is hot, and the thought of a McGregor-Diaz trilogy bout with the lightweight championship on the line undoubtedly gets the blood pumping at WME-IMG headquarters. Their current head-to-head series stands at 1-1, as Diaz submitted the Irishman with a rear-naked choke at UFC 196 on March 5 before McGregor rebounded for a majority decision in their rematch at UFC 202 on Aug. 20. Both fights were contested at 170 pounds and left the MMA world wanting more.

Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson: Their score was left unsettled after five rounds, as Woodley and Thompson fought to a majority draw in the co-main event. Woodley cut the challenger across the bridge of the nose with an elbow in the first round and nearly finished him in the fourth, where he wrecked the South Carolinian with a pair of devastating right hands and netted 10-8 scores from two of the cageside judges. Thompson controlled the fight from distance in the second, third and fifth rounds, though his work was not enough to force a changing of the guard at 170 pounds. A rematch seems like a logical course of action, but Demian Maia and his six-fight winning streak figure to have a say in the matter.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Jessica Andrade: A violent whirlwind of skill, speed and technique, Jedrzejczyk turned away another challenger, as she claimed a unanimous decision from Karolina Kowalkiewicz and retained the UFC women’s strawweight title. The unbeaten champion battered Kowalkiewicz with leg kicks, crisp punching combinations and standing elbows in the clinch. Jedrzejczyk was briefly dazed in the fourth round, where a clean right hand to the face buckled her knees. She withstood Kowalkiewicz’s bid to finish, cleared her head and picked up where she left off. Andrade has gone 2-0 since dropping to 115 pounds and last appeared at UFC 203 on Sept. 10, when she submitted Joanne Calderwood with a first-round guillotine chokes.

Yoel Romero vs. Michael Bisping: Romero is one frightening individual. The 2000 Olympic silver medalist short-circuited former middleweight champion Chris Weidman with a knee strike and follow-up punches in the third round of their battle at 185 pounds. The knee resulted in a serious gash on Weidman’s head and left him defenseless against the attack that came next. Romero, 39, has rattled off eight consecutive victories, six of them finishes. Bisping retained the middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Dan Henderson at UFC 204 on Oct. 8.

Raquel Pennington vs. Valentina Shevchenko: When you retire Miesha Tate, you tend to draw attention to yourself. Pennington took a unanimous decision from the former women’s bantamweight champion in what amounted to a three-round coming-out party. The 28-year-old beat Tate in every phase, as she battered her with a wicked jab and combination punching on the feet, frustrated her in the clinch and surprised her in the grappling exchanges, threatening with repeated guillotine chokes. Afterward, Tate called it a career. Shevchenko last competed in the UFC on Fox 20 main event in July, when she captured a unanimous verdict over Holly Holm and staked her claim as one of the sport’s premier bantamweights.

Frankie Edgar vs. Ricardo Lamas: Edgar rebounded from a second loss to Jose Aldo at UFC 200 with a hard-fought unanimous decision over Jeremy Stephens, the former lightweight champion keeping his name in circulation near the top of the 145-pound division. Stephens made it interesting, as he wobbled “The Answer” with a front kick to the face in the second round. Edgar survived and got back to work, mixing takedowns and positional control with excellent footwork and fast punching combinations. He has won six of his past seven bouts. Lamas last appeared at a UFC Fight Night event on Nov. 5, when he submitted Charles Oliveira with a second-round guillotine choke.

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson: Nurmagomedov could not have been more dominant. The undefeated Dagestani mauler improved to 24-0 on the undercard, as he submitted Michael Johnson with a third-round kimura. Nurmagomedov overcame a shaky start -- Johnson staggered him with punches inside the first two minutes -- and demoralized the Blackzilians rep with repeated takedowns and crushing ground-and-pound. The 28-year-old appeared to be on the verge of finishing it in the first and second rounds before applying the kimura for the tapout in the third. Ferguson ran his winning streak to nine fights in the UFC Fight Night 98 headliner on Nov. 5, as he pocketed a unanimous decision over former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos.

Eddie Alvarez vs. Will Brooks: Alvarez’s stay atop the lightweight division was a brief one, as he yielded the throne to McGregor after just 128 days. The 32-year-old was never much of a factor, as McGregor shut down his clinch game, denied his bid for a takedown and fed him a steady diet of potent left hands before finishing him with punches in the second round. It marked the first time Alvarez had been stopped by strikes since Nick Thompson did the honors as a welterweight nearly a decade ago. Brooks was on the receiving end of a first-round knockout from an overweight Alex Oliveira at a UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 1. Both Brooks and Alvarez held the Bellator MMA lightweight championship before arriving in the UFC.