That’s all for tonight. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check out the fight report here.
“I made history tonight,” McGregor tells UFC pundit Joe Rogan during his in-ring interview. And he has. McGregor is the first fighter in the promotion’s history to record knockout victories at featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.
He continues: “I’ve etched my name in history once again. For the Irish people! For my ma back home!”
Updated
Conor McGregor wins by first-round TKO!
Round 1
McGregor explodes from his corner at the bell and uncoils a massive left hand that just misses the target. Now McGregor wastes no time in hammering Cerrone with a couple of shoulder strikes out of the clinch and Cerrone is already bleeding from his nose. Cerrone is in big trouble early, his nose perhaps broken. McGregor drops him with a kick to the head and opens up with the ground and pound. Oh boy. Only a matter of time now ... and referee Herb Dean has put a stop to it! McGregor has won in a mere 40 seconds to punctuate his return with style!
HE. IS. BACK.
— UFC (@ufc) January 19, 2020
🇮🇪 @TheNotoriousMMA CLOSES THE SHOW EARLY! WOW! #UFC246 pic.twitter.com/0B0NXbi6pY
Updated
It’s main event time at the T-Mobile Arena. Cerrone is first to appear from the tunnel, making his way to the octagon for his record 34th appearance in a UFC fight as Kid Rock’s Cowboy plays over the arena sound system. Now it’s McGregor, who emerges to the strains Biggie’s Hypnotize while draped in an Irish flag.
Holly Holm has outpointed Raquel Pennington in a dreadfully dull rematch of her UFC debut. Scores were 30-27 (twice) and 29-28. That means the main event between McGregor and Cerrone is coming up directly.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to tonight’s UFC welterweight clash between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone. It’s a return to action for McGregor, still the UFC’s biggest name, after more than 15 months since his fourth-round submission defeat at the hands of Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Dublin brawler has promised an active 2020 after fighting once under MMA rules since November 2016 and it will start tonight against the veteran nicknamed Cowboy, who’s attempting to mount a comeback of his own.
“I want to be the best version of myself,” McGregor said this week. “Everyone is saying they want the old Conor, the Conor that fought in 2016, the Conor that fought Eddie (Alvarez for the lightweight title). I feel I’m in a better place than that. I have a better skill set than that. I’m more experienced. That’s certainly a drive of mine, to be a better version of myself.”
The co-main event – a three-round women’s bantamweight fight between Holly Holm and Raquel Pennington – has just started at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with McGregor and Cerrone expected to make their entrances just after the top of the hour.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s a look at Karim Zidan’s look at Conor McGregor’s return.
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