A recap written by Lee Sonogan
Originally published on entertainmentcultureonline.com
Conor McGregor is coming out of his second-longest layoff in his career. In comparison, Cerrone has been one of UFC’s busiest athletes with competing four times last year, winning half of them. The Cowboy is expected to have the advantage due to the fight being in the Welterweight division. McGregor has only fought in the Welterweight division twice with one victory and lose to Nick Diaz. Cerrone has been fighting exclusively in this division winning six fights out of ten since 2016.
“I look forward to my triumph return.” – Conor McGregor
Tale of the Tape dictates a lot of similarities and differences. Win/Loss records are Conor McGregor 21 – 4 – 0 and Donald Cerrone 36 – 13 – 0, 1NC having records in all-time wins and finishes. The age difference is about 5 years with the younger Conor with the slightly longer reach. Although Cerrone has his height in his favour which helps with his kickboxing background I assume. Despite McGregor’s break, the building of the hype has been as good as any previous fight promo I have seen. As I finish this sentence, this uniquely seems intriguing in its potential unpredictability and the bombs that shall be thrown.
Round one begins with two styles clashing into a clinch. Right away Conor went for a right hand missing but making Cerrone bleed with a knee and level changing shoulder strikes. Dazing Cerrone, he had no choice to back off although McGregor chased him. Nailing solid long-reaching strikes, he even made an opportunity to get a terrific head kick in. Stuck at the side of the cage, Cowboy was trapped into the ground and the pound also lays in elbows. It looked like Cerrone was trying his hardest to protect himself and get out of it, but it was not enough.
I’ll give credit to McGregor for this one making sure his return put everything together. The best strategy going in would be going in fast as he did. Interesting to see what Cerrone comes out later saying what his initial plan was going in. 40 seconds is a very short fight, regardless it showcased what I predicted in unpredictability. Now, The Notorious One is back to the main eventer where he belongs. Sheer charisma and backing it up, how long can the pressure motivate him to stay at the top of his game?
7/10
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