UFC 246 results: Conor McGregor needs just 40 seconds to take out Donald Cerrone

After 15 months away from the sport, and more than three years removed from his most recent win, [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] returned Saturday in a big way.

The former dual champion took out the promotion’s all-time wins leader in just 40 seconds in the UFC 246 main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) stopped [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag] (36-14 MMA, 23-11 UFC) with a TKO to put himself right back into title contention – perhaps in two divisions.

McGregor charged forward in a hurry, and missed with a left hand. But a knee grazed Cerrone, and then a pair of shoulders thrown by McGregor may have broken Cerrone’s nose straight away.

McGregor broke away and a few seconds later landed a head kick. The kick wobbled Cerrone, and after he hit the canvas from a few McGregor punches, he delivered more until referee Herb Dean mercifully stepped in to shut things down, setting off a frenzy from the Irish fans in attendance.

“I changed levels and came up into it – it was a good shot,” McGregor said. “I made history here tonight. I’m the first fighter in UFC history to secure knockouts at featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.”

The 31-year-old McGregor was the first fighter in UFC history to hold two belts at the same time. But he never defended the featherweight title or lightweight belt; both were stripped from him when he didn’t defend them.

The Irishman has had trouble away from the cage, though. He was arrested in 2018 for an incident in which he threw a hand truck at a bus carrying UFC 223 fighters, including eventual opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov. After Nurmagomedov submitted him at UFC 229 later that year, he touched off a brawl with McGregor’s corner.

In 2019, McGregor was arrested in Miami Beach for taking a man’s phone, smashing it and walking away with it. A few months later, he punched a man in a pub in Dublin and was caught on camera. And there have been a pair of published reports in the New York Times that he is under investigation in Ireland for two separate alleged sexual assaults.

And while much of that was part of the UFC’s promotional back story for the fight against Cerrone, it was largely forgotten once McGregor stepped into the cage. And once he was in there and the pre-fight hype had died down and it was time to ring the bell, it didn’t take McGregor long to become known for his fighting once again.

The welterweight bout was the UFC 246 main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 246 results include: