The sport of mixed martial arts has finally been legalized in the great state of New York and the sport’s biggest promotion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is set to have their first show in New York City on November 12th of this year. The event, UFC 205, will be held at the world famous Madison Square Garden and will feature three world title fights. Headlining the potential biggest card in mixed martial arts history will be a battle for the UFC Lightweight strap, as Champion Eddie Alvarez looks to make his first UFC title defense against Ireland’s own Conor McGregor. “The Notorious” currently holds the UFC’s Featherweight trap and aims to become the first fighter in promotional history to unite the two with a victory over the veteran Alvarez. The former Bellator champion is coming off a first round knockout win over Rafael dos Anjos, where he captured the UFC gold. McGregor last saw action at UFC 202 a couple months back, where he defeated Nate Diaz via narrow decision. The co-main event of the evening for UFC 205 in New York City will be a welterweight title fight between defending champion Tyron Woodley and challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Woodley decrowned Robbie Lawler to hold the title and will be making his first defense against Thompson, who currently owns an impressive seven fight winning streak heading into the title fight. Four of the seven victories came by way of T/KO. The third title fight taking place at Madison Square Garden on November 12th will be a Women’s Strawweight title fight between defending Champion Joanna fellow Polish challenger, Karolina Kowalkiewicz . This is a match-up the Champion has long wantJędrzejczyk and ed, as there is some question in Poland as to who is truly the better fighter of the two. UFC President Dana White has said that the Champion wanted them to bring Kowalkiewicz to the UFC so she can earn her way to a title shot, so Jędrzejczyk would get the opportunity to defeat her and prove she is number one in Poland. The preceding main card bout for UFC 205 in New York City takes place in the middleweight division and sees former UFC 185-pound title holder Chris Weidman look to get back on track after losing his strap when he takes on Cuban Olympic gold medalist Yoel Romero. This is a match-up between two elite wrestlers, grapplers and mixed martial artists. An impressive victory could put the winner next in line for a shot at Michael Bisping and his middleweight belt. The second of six main card bouts on this fight card is a welterweight contest between TUF 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum and former UFC lightweight title challenger Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Gastelum will be looking to make it two wins in a row for himself following a UFC 200 unanimous decision victory over Johny Hendricks, and “Cowboy” will be hoping to pick up his fifth straight victory since moving up to the UFC’s welterweight division. Getting the action started for the UFC 205 main card in New York City will be a women’s bantamweight match-up between former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate and Invicta FC veteran Raquel Pennington. Pennington was on Team Tate on The Ultimate Fighter reality series, now she faces off against her coach. These two are expected to get the Pay Per View action rolling on a high note.
