In a brutally honest post-fight assessment, a distraught Eddie Alvarez has admitted he is full of regret about how he fought against Conor McGregor at UFC 205.
McGregor knocked Alvarez out in the second round of their lightweight title fight at Madison Square Garden on Saturday to become the first fighter to hold two UFC world titles simultaneously.
It was a punch-perfect performance from McGregor who knocked Alvarez down three times in the opening three minutes as the Philadelphia native had no answer for his deadly counter left hand.
Going into the bout, Alvarez spoke repeatedly about how he planned to expose McGregor's perceived weakness in the grappling department but he came nowhere near doing so on fight night, with the Irishman easily stuffing his takedown attempts.
In an emotional post on Instagram, Alvarez admitted he paid the price for completely abandoning his game plan and said the biggest payday of his career is little solace for performing so poorly on such a grand stage.
Alvarez wrote: "Congrats to Conor 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 blew it… I did nothing I trained [for]. 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 [messed] 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 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 cheque that's 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 going to 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 (of) 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 every time.
"Thanks for listening - EA"