PHILADELPHIA -- Eddie Alvarez waited to feel the magnitude of the moment as he stood eye-to-eye with Conor McGregor on a Madison Square Garden stage. Alvarez, hyping the biggest fight of his career, wondered if nervousness would kick in as he stared down McGregor. Maybe anger. An adrenaline rush, something, that would sound the emotional bell inside his body that he shared space with one of UFCs top fighters.He had listened to McGregor yap and boast with all the theatrics reserved for a daytime talk show, and when the time hit in September for the UFC 205 headliners to finally face off, Alvarez felt nothing.My heart rate didnt go up not two beats, Alvarez said. I was standing in front of that man and I didnt feel anything. I dont know what was going on. Maybe I was just off that day. But this guy made me feel nothing.Trash talk? Perhaps, but the 32-year-old Alvarez insisted he had a detached demeanor because he viewed McGregor as just another victim on his roll call of champions that he will beat down for a win.I dont get caught up in names, Alvarez said. I just fight.His most pressure-packed fight yet -- the one that could help launch Alvarez into McGregor-type paydays -- is ahead.Alvarez makes his first UFC lightweight title defense against McGregor on Saturday night at MSG in the promotions return to New York for the first time since the state lifted the mixed martial arts ban earlier this year. McGregor, the Irish fighter with the brash public persona that made him one of UFCs top draws, is also the featherweight champion and has vowed to walk out of the cage with both championship belts draped over his shoulders.Alvarez has found the lightweight belt quite comfortable propped on one of his shoulders this summer in his native Philadelphia.He seemed primed to fill a role as Phillys one-man fifth franchise once boxer Bernard Hopkins retires in December. Alvarez has been a championship man about town, as he threw out the first pitch at a Phillies game or mingled with fans at a beer event appropriately named BrawlerFest. Hopkins even tipped his cap toward Alvarez, offering congratulations on a banner raised outside the gym where he trained.Alvarez may make history in New York. But he made his name in Philly fighting on streets, outside bars, even playgrounds, for any reason years before he became a settled family man and forged his way into the MMA cage.I never said Im going to start fighting and Im going to be the best in the world at it, Alvarez said. My original mindframe when I started was, no one could beat me in a fight. I was 19 or 18 years old. You couldnt convince I could lose a fight. You just couldnt. Id laugh at you.Alvarez, 5-foot-9, 155 pounds, was a high school wrestler who had his eyes opened to MMA when he attended a UFC card in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He became hooked when he was introduced to a group of men training in a basement near his Kensington home.It wasnt even known, The sport wasnt really anything, Alvarez said. No one knew nothing about MMA. I went, this is cool.But not cool enough to stick with the sport while he was still in high school. When he graduated, Alvarez was directionless and still spent his weekends out with the wrong crowds and getting mixed up in fights -- that kind that could have landed him in jail, not prepping for title shots.Sooner or later I was like, I need to go see those guys that went down in the basement, Alvarez said. I need to see if theyre still training and they were. Except they had a gym now.Alvarez made his pro debut after just eight months of MMA training. He went undefeated in his first 10 MMA fights and won Bellators lightweight title in 2009. He became entangled in a protracted legal conflict with Bellator and eventually signed with UFC in 2014. Alvarez was trounced by Donald Cowboy Cerrone in his first bout, but recovered with split-decision wins over Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis to earn a lightweight title shot.Alvarez won the 155-pound title with a dramatic first-round stoppage of Rafael Dos Anjos in July on a UFC Fight Night card.Up next, McGregor, who is coming off a decision victory against Nate Diaz in a welterweight bout in August at UFC 202.A lot of people are going to show up to watch me beat this guy up, Alvarez said.McGregor said this week he would retire Alvarez in the fight.Its over for you. You will not fight again after this, McGregor crowed. You will not look the same. You will not think the same, and thats it.Alvarez laughed off the threat -- and made one of his own.Were about to take out arguably the biggest name in MMA, he said. Steve McNair Jersey . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. Warren Moon Jersey . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. http://www.titansstoreonline.com/Black-24-Derrick-Henry-Womens-Jersey/ . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. Warren Moon Womens Jersey . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. Tennessee Titans Jerseys . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He has a phone hearing with the department of player safety, which limits any potential suspension to five or fewer games. CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Dejan Vasiljevic is a native of Canada with Serbian roots who grew up in Australia and has now found a home as a shooting guard for the Miami Hurricanes.Vasiljevic is the most well-traveled member of a talented freshman class already playing a significant role for the Hurricanes, who compete in an eight-team tournament in Orlando beginning Thursday.In Miamis first three games, all wins, Vasiljevic has averaged 11.7 points while going 9 for 18 from 3-point range.He can really, really shoot, coach Jim Larranaga said. I told him he reminds me of me -- a really good offensive player who doesnt play much D. He really tries, but youre guarding a different kind of player, an athlete who is very skilled, and he hasnt faced that kind of athlete on a regular basis. So hes learning.Vasiljevics background suggests hes quick to adapt.My parents are from the former Yugoslavia, he said. Because of the war, they decided to move here and there.He was born in Calgary and moved to Melbourne when he was 6. He has Canadian and Australian citizenship, and plans to apply eventually for citizenship in Serbia, where he still has family. His parents and sister live in Australia.His unusual accent -- mostly Aussie, a bit Serbian -- made him somewhat difficult for teammates to understand at first.Im trying to get rid of the Australian slang in my speech, said Vasiljevic, who pronounces his name DAY-on Vass-EEL-uh-vitch and goes