Conor McGregor put on a show – albeit a very brief one – in his return to the Octagon on Saturday night when he needed just 40 seconds to knock out Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and state his case for deserving a much bigger fight the next time out.
McGregor used some seldom seen shoulder punches while in the clinch with Cerrone. He then used a head kick and some very accurate strikes to put an end to the fight.
On Sunday his coach, John Kavanagh, broke down on Twitter what his favorite move of the night was – and it was none of those.
Instead, it was McGregor’s incredible ability to avoid a takedown in the opening seconds after he missed with a left hand right out of the gate:
The most impressive part of the fight, for me, was the athleticism required to fire the correct muscles in order to defend the takedown. In 0.1 seconds he went from a deep centred hip position for the cross to hip forward sprawl. Fast brain, Fast fighter. https://t.co/GcKYzeONju
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) January 19, 2020
Yeah, that was pretty darn impressive. And extremely fast thinking and moving by McGregor.
What’s next for him? I hope a fight with Jorge Masvidal.
But whatever happens – McGregor definitely appears capable of being the same fighter he was back when he was winning two UFC titles.
And perhaps even better.