By: Stephen Hardy-Delaney
Queue, LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out”
Conor McGregor makes his return in spectacular fashion with a 40 second TKO of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in the main event of UFC 246. McGregor had not seen octagon action in 15 months since his submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight championship at UFC 229. McGregor had seen his fair share of controversy in 2019 and was ready to move past his troubles and leave his demons behind by putting on a spectacular performance against the 5th ranked lightweight in the world and a man who holds the UFC records for most wins, most finishes, most performance bonuses, and most head kick knockouts in UFC history and McGregor did just that with a bang.
After a buildup to a McGregor fight like no other, the former featherweight and lightweight champion seemed different, completely different, unrecognizable. No trash talk, no brawls, no attempted intimidation except for a fierce faceoff the Friday before the fight, no crazy press conference, just pure class all around, respect, and focus. Is this the new Conor McGregor his team has been talking about? The new man he’s claiming to be? McGregor showed the utmost respect for Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and said, “Though there will be blood spilled it will not be bad blood.”
After the memorable walkouts made by both fighters and another incredible fighter announcement made by Bruce Buffer, as soon as the cage door locked, and referee Herb Dean said “fight” it…was… on and it was fireworks from the get-go. McGregor would storm all the way to the side where Cowboy was standing and swing for the fences with his famous left-hand punch but would miss as Cowboy dipped under and both would end up clinching but only for McGregor to land devastating shoulder strikes to Cowboy’s face to make him bleed from his nose and do damage to his eye. Cowboy was clearly hurt from these strikes but McGregor was relentless with his assault and would only allow Cowboy to get off one kick that landed on his arm and then the next strike by McGregor would do it, a beautiful head kick straight to the side of Cowboy’s head and after multiples punches Cowboy fell to the canvas, and after devastating ground and pound, Herb Dean had no choice but to call a stop to the fight at 40 seconds of the very first round declaring McGregor the winner by TKO.
You talk about winning a fight literally coming out unscathed this was exactly it. McGregor put on a performance of a lifetime in a fight where many criticized his willingness to even fight Cowboy after Cowboy had just dropped his last two fights against Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, and many doubted that he would be the same and that his best days were behind him even at the age of 31, but the Irishman put that all to rest with this performance.
The post-fight interview would be one of the more interesting ones since so many matchups are on the table for McGregor with so many fighters that he has shown interest in. Would he demand a rematch with the lightweight king and his arch-nemesis, Khabib Nurmagomedov? Would he call out the welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman to become the first UFC fighter to challenge for 3 world titles? Would he welcome a trilogy fight with the Stockton bad boy, Nate Diaz? Or would he call out the “baddest mother f’er” in the world with a belt to even show for it, Jorge Masvidal? A fight that is ridiculously being hoped for by fight fans. McGregor would go on to say that any of the “mouthy fools can get it.” McGregor would even go on to target UFC lightweight Paul Felder who was calling the fight alongside Joe Rogan and Jon Anik which was very surprising but would then go onto insult Jorge Masvidal’s Versace robe which replicated McGregor’s exact robe that he wore a couple of years ago. Masvidal and Usman were cage side and now we wait for what’s to come in what McGregor claims will be his best year yet with maybe even another crack at Floyd Mayweather which seems to be gaining traction after Mayweather posted a photo on his Instagram showing a photoshopped version of a fight poster with McGregor next to him.
There are so many options for McGregor after this great performance which saw him set a record for KO/TKO stoppages in 3 weight classes being featherweight to win the title against Jose Aldo, lightweight to win the title against Eddie Alvarez, and now welterweight against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. 2020 is going to be big and with McGregor in it and kicking it off, it’s going to be even bigger.
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