What mattered most at UFC 246 in Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. Conor McGregor’s flawless effort
It doesn’t get much better than that if you’re Conor McGregor. He didn’t get hit with a single strike by Donald Cerrone, connected with a bevy of diverse offensive attacks and won the fight in just 40 seconds.
This wasn’t a one-shot knockout like the Jose Aldo fight. It was nearly three times longer, but thoroughly dominant, and showed “The Notorious” is still as dangerous as he’s ever been.
Of course it’s easy to poke holes in the outcome. Cerrone is historically slow coming out of the gate, doesn’t take damage all that well and is known to crumble under pressure. He’s still a high-level fighter, though, and he’s never lost a fight as quickly as he did to McGregor.
After 15 months off, this was the perfect comeback scenario for McGregor. If he stays focused and commits to his “2020 season,” he couldn’t ask for a better momentum-builder.
2. McGregor’s next move
The fight world is McGregor’s oyster after getting his first UFC win in 1,162 days. His star power feels as strong or stronger than ever coming out of this event, and there more than a few opponents he could take on next.
I touched on what exactly I’d like to see from him in my post-fight matchmaker piece, but UFC president Dana White made it clear he’ll be pushing for a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov should the lightweight champion successfully defend against Tony Ferguson at UFC 229 in April.
Will that be McGregor’s next move? His comments at the post-fight news conference made it seems as though that’s not the immediate priority, but if it is, that’ll be what’s next. If not, McGregor can almost certainly force the UFC’s hand to get whichever other fight he desires most.
3. ‘Cowboy’ is going nowhere
Cerrone is surely going to be bummed out about this result for a good while. He had nothing to offer McGregor when they finally got in the octagon, and while many believed the matchup with “Cowboy” was a better tailor-made fit for McGregor than one of his designer suits, few could’ve anticipated it would go down like it did.
It’s now three losses in a row for Cerrone, and as MMA fans do, there were heavy criticism of his performance and calls for him to retire post-fight. That’s just utter nonsense. At this point it’s pretty clear that, barring a miraculous string of victories, Cerrone isn’t going to be a UFC champion. This one was probably his peak in terms of big fights, but that doesn’t mean he needs to go away.
Cerrone has been competing in this sport for a very long time. He has the most fights in UFC history, and for the bout with McGregor, he finally got the big money he’s been working for and deserves (he definitely made multiple times more than the $200,000 disclosed purse, by the way). He’s not going to step away now, and, at the very least, look for him to fight out the remaining bouts on his new deal before there’s any consideration of doing something else.
4. ‘The Future’ is still not the present
That was a rough go of things for Maycee Barber. Injury or not, aspects of her game were exposed, and we learned she’s not everything that many (including yours truly) thought she was. Barber crashed and burned as the biggest favorite on the card, succumbing to the veteran savvy of Roxanne Modafferi for her first career loss.
Assuming the knee injury Barber sustained in the bout isn’t something that causes her long-term issues, there’s good odds she only flourishes from this. Her post-fight demeanor indicates that’s what’s going to happen, but that goal of becoming the youngest champion in UFC history seems loftier than ever – especially in a division run by Valentina Shevchenko, who you could only imagine would punish Barber in a frightening way if she can’t add more depth to her arsenal in the coming years.
5. Diego Ferreira breaks through
Diego Ferreira continued to emphasize that he’s a player to watch in the loaded UFC lightweight division when he utterly dominated Anthony Pettis to push his winning streak to six fights.
Ferreira beat some of the division’s most underrated names, such as Rustam Khabilov and Mairbek Taisumov, to earn the matchup with “Showtime.” His submission win over Pettis on a big platform provided some much-needed recognition for his career.
Coach Sayif Saud continues to grow a dangerous staple of athletes at Fortis MMA in Texas, and Ferreira is one of the names leading the bunch. He deserves a top-10 foe after this latest win, but he’s going to be hard pressed convincing one of the elite names at lightweight to agree to fight him, and for good reason. He doesn’t come to play.
