Conor McGregor annouces his return to the cage with an emphatic win over Donald Cerrone.
McGregor and Cerrone headlined the UFC 246 at the T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas – the promotion’s first pay-per-view event in 2020.
Cerrone was coming off back-to-back losses at 155 pounds, He most recently tussled with Justin Gaethje at UFC Vancouver last September, where he suffered a first-round technical knockout beating.
Prior to this defeat, the mixed martial arts veteran faced number one lightweight contender, Tony Ferguson, at UFC 248.
Despite the losing skid, ‘Cowboy’ still holds the records for the most wins, most finishes, most knockdowns, and most post-fight bonuses in the UFC history.
Meanwhile,’The Notorious’ from Ireland is looking for his first MMA win since his 13-second victory over Eddie Alvarez in 2016 – the fastest title fight win ever.
McGregor was last seen at UFC 229 in October 2018, when he challenged Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight championship.
But things did not go as planned for the Irish star as he was submitted in the fourth round via Khabib’s neck crank.
UFC president Dana White has previously stated that the UFC 246 fight would be crucial for the revival of McGregor’s career.
It looks like ‘The Notorious’ does not want to fade in the MMA scene just quickly as he eked out his best performance in three years, defeating Cerrone in just 40 seconds.
He landed a head kick on Cerrone and sent him down with a left hand before launching a flurry of punches, which forced the referee to stop the fight.
“I like this weight division. I feel really good. I’ve definitely got work to do to get back where I was,” McGregor said in the post-fight interview.
Watch the actions below:
Check out the full results of the UFC 246 Fight Card (courtesy of MMA Fighting):
Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone vis first-round TKO (0:40)
Holly Holm vs. Raquel Pennington via unanimous decision
Aleksei Oleinik def. Maurice Greene via sub (armbar) (R2, 4:38)
Brian Kelleher def. Ode Osbourne via sub (guillotine) (R1, 2:49)
Diego Ferreira def. Anthony Pettis via submission (RNC) (R2, 1:46)
Undercard
Roxanne Modafferi def. Maycee Barber via UD (30-27 x2, 30-26)
Sodiq Yusuff def. Andre Fili via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Askar Askarov def. Tim Elliott via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 x2)
Drew Dober def. Nasrat Haqparast via first-round TKO (1:10)
Aleksa Camur def. Justin Ledet via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 x2)
Sabina Mazo def. JJ Aldrich via split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29)
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone)