Conor McGregor returned to the Octagon in a big way Saturday night as he needed just 40 seconds to knock out Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in the main event at UFC 246.
It was classic McGregor as he pounced on Cowboy right away, charging him from the opening bell, stunning him with some shoulder punches of all things, knocking him back with a head kick, and then sending him to the mat with a flurry of punches before referee Herb Dean finally called the fight.
It was the perfect fight for McGregor, and a perfect matchup, too. He was able to show his dominance against a veteran fighter in Cerrone who just didn’t appear to have that much left in the tank. McGregor got an impressive win and did so without suffering any physical damage.
Lots of wins there for McGregor.
Now, things get interesting for McGregor as his next fight will be much more of a test, one that will allow us all to see just how good he is as he tries to get back to being a UFC champ.
And there’s only one person McGregor should fight next – Jorge Masvidal, who was sitting Octagon-side in a Versace bathrobe on Saturday night.
This one makes just too much sense, for a number of reasons. A fight with Masvidal, who owns the BMF title, would be a huge money fight. The fight would be at 170 pounds, which McGregor looked really solid at on Saturday night. And a win here – which would be very difficult to pull off – would make it easy for the UFC to give McGregor a pick afterward – a fight for the lightweight title or a fight for the welterweight title.
UFC boss Dana White said after Saturday night’s fight that a rematch against lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov is the one to make for McGregor. But the problem, of course, is that Nurmagomedov fights Tony Ferguson in April.
McGregor is in great shape and should strike while the iron is hot. He shouldn’t wait for that Nurmagomedov rematch, especially since McGregor wants to fight four times in 2020. That rematch, if Nurmagomedov can keep his belt, will come.
A fight with welterweight champ Kamaru Usman doesn’t make sense just yet. A win over Masvidal would open that up but let’s be honest – Usman is third on the list of fights we’d want to see for McGregor going forward.
McGregor-Masvidal is the fight to make right now. It’s a no-brainer. And man, it would be so much fun.
Let’s do this, UFC.
