Connor McGregor is back, and he did that with style. The Notorious knocked out Cowboy Cerrone after 40 seconds of the fight.
Connor’s Fury
The Irishman became the first fighter who won via knockout in three different categories – featherweight, lightweight and welterweight. He needed 40 seconds to trash Cerrone (36-14 MMA, 23-11 UFC), who wasn’t at the expected level. Right on from the start, the Notorious (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) imposed his tempo, hitting the rival from all weapons.
He would use his shoulder to crack Cowboy’s defense. During one clinch, McGregor had four of five hits with a shoulder that directly hit Cerrone in his head and nose.
After that, the former champ struck Cerrone’s head with a left high kick, and the veteran just collapsed. He would get down on the ground, helplessly trying to avoid another defeat, but McGregor’s punches were too strong, and the referee had to stop the fight.
It was a hard and cruel ending, in which the winner poured dozens of strikes on the bleeding and helpless opponent. Though, almost immediately after the match ended, McGregor showed respect to Cowboy while the latter one still sat on the canvas.
With this win, McGregor hopes to come back in all the title talks, but we need to say that fight against Cerrone isn’t really a true test for that. We’ve seen Cowboy’s decline in recent times, with this being his third straight loss via knockout. He used to be one of the toughest guys in this sport, and now, he isn’t even an average one.
McGregor stated in the ring that he wants to fight anyone willing to accept his challenge, and we saw Kamaru Usman, and Jorge Masvidal in the audience. Of course, we know that the Irishman’s goal is Khabib Nurmagomedov, but that is less likely to happen anytime soon.
Holly Holm and Aleksei Olenik Post Wins
One of the fan favorites in UFC Holly Holm defeated Raquel Pennington via unanimous decision, 29-28, 30-27, 30-27, by rounds. Meanwhile, the Russian veteran Aleksei Olenik beat Maurice Greene via armbar submission in a match that was going the other way.
Diego Ferreira won against Anthony Pettis via rear-naked-choke.