Alvarez regrets not sticking to plan against McGregor

Everything that could possibly have gone wrong for Eddie Alvarez did on Saturday night.

In the first defense of his lightweight title, Alvarez went down in humbling fashion when Conor McGregor finished him with strikes in the main event of UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden. It was a shocking end for the Philly native who had not suffered a TKO loss in over nine years.

After the fight, Alvarez noted that a lack of in-cage strategy may explain why things went south for him so quickly.

"Disappointed," Alvarez told Damon Martin of FOX Sports. "I didn't fight a good fight ... I think (the game plan) was more to kick and wrestle, not to box so much, not to throw so many hands. Kind of got lulled a bit into his game and paid for it."

Alvarez appeared to be discouraged when his takedown attempts were defended by McGregor, which resulted in him resorting to the brawling style that he's often employed in his 13 years of professional cage fighting. The striking exchanges heavily favored McGregor, who knocked Alvarez down three times in the opening round before ending the bout in the second.

"The shot he hit me with, yeah, I think I threw a shot and he came over top cause I don't even remember, I just remember being on the floor and I was like wow that was quick," Alvarez said. "Whatever that was it was fast. I didn't feel like it hurt me crazy.

"It's kind of a flash and I've been there before. So I was OK with it, but I just boxed too much, boxed too much tonight. Too much boxing."

The loss should send Alvarez and his team back to the lab for a retooling, but it sounds like he is putting off talking about future fights for the time being.

"It's too soon to tell," Alvarez said. "I'm going to go home, see my wife and kids, I've been busy this year. Busy for my own career and I just want to see my wife and kids."