Conor McGregor exploded back to the Octagon after quite a year faraway from the UFC with a 40-second knockout of Donald Cerrone within the main event of UFC 246. Fans of Irish superstar couldn't have asked for a more impressive performance from McGregor. But what does McGregor's victory mean within the bigger picture? And where does "Cowboy" follow his third consecutive TKO loss?

Let's take a glance at the answers to those questions and more as we reflect back on the UFC's first event of 2020 and therefore the return of the sport's biggest superstar.

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McGregor, fighting just like the Conor of old, secures endless options for 2020: the truth is, Conor McGregor will headline cards until he decides to truly hang up the gloves. He's a longtime global superstar beyond anyone else within the UFC, and albeit he'd lost to Cerrone, he'd still get to call almost any shot for his next fight. However, by securing not only a win, but a 40-second knockout of the fighter with the foremost wins in UFC history, McGregor has seemingly all options on the table.

It would be easy to seem at the way the fight played out and think there was nothing learned about who McGregor is after quite a year out of action. But he fought exactly just like the McGregor UFC fans have seen in numerous of his fights. He was looking to explode with every strike from the opening bell and each shot was thrown with the intention of doing serious damage. That has been a detriment in his worst moments -- resulting in lingering questions on his cardio -- and a positive in his best. The fighter fans saw at UFC 246 is McGregor at his core. he's an all-time great fighter who has only seen the third round 3 times in 26 fights due to this overwhelmingly aggressive approach to his fights.


By beginning just like the Irish whirlwind of old, McGregor placed himself in position for whatever fight interests him most. that would be a rematch with lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, a fight UFC president Dana White said would be his if he beat Cerrone. Or, McGregor could line up a fight with welterweight champ Kamaru Usman, who was cageside for the fight. Maybe McGregor wants to travel the route of "BMF" champ Jorge Masvidal, who was also attending watching with interest.

The biggest takeaway from the night is that the fight world is, once more , Conor McGregor's to regulate .

Cowboy is running out of rides: While nobody should take anything faraway from McGregor's impressive performance, there are a couple of numbers that ought to provide some insight. First, Cerrone is now 4-7 since 2017. Second, Cerrone has now suffered five TKO losses therein same span. before that stretch, he had only been stopped by strikes twice in his career.

Cerrone is merely 36 years old, but his body features a ton of miles thereon and it's beginning to show in his performances. Sure, his recent downturn in success has come against top-tier opponents. But he's beginning to look tons sort of a fighter who can't compete at that level anymore. Cerrone will never be a person who backs down from a challenge or gives anything but his best within the Octagon. But his best isn't getting it done against the highest end of the fight game anymore.


Holly Holm is stuck: Holm picked up a convert Raquel Pennington in their women's bantamweight co-main event rematch. Holm remains a particularly competent fighter, though success has been spotty for her since her sport-changing knockout of Ronda Rousey in November 2015. very similar to Cerrone, Holm is during a kind of career limbo. She is now 3-5 since her championship victory over Rousey, with all five losses coming in title fights with the exception of a choice loss to Valentina Shevchenko, who became flyweight champ a touch over two years later.

Holm can still defeat most girls within the UFC, but she doesn't seem ready to revisit to the highest of the mountain. And with Amanda Nunes standing in her way of reclaiming the bantamweight title, Holm likely won't revisit to champion status any time soon. That leaves her in an unenviable position of operating as more of a gatekeeper than a contender.

Carlos Diego Ferreira's stock rises, Anthony Pettis' falls: Ferreira scored a slick neck-crank submission of Pettis to select up his sixth consecutive victory. An anti-doping violations sidelined him for an extended stretch of that run, and he omitted on another opportunity thanks to a weight cut gone wrong last May. But wins are beginning to compile for the Brazilian, and being the primary man to submit Pettis, a former lightweight champion, certainly may be a nice feather in his cap.

Pettis, very similar to Holm, has gone on a nasty run since his time as champion. He's 4-8 since 2015, the losses largely coming against champions or top contenders until running into Ferreira. He appeared like a future superstar when he came from the WEC's cage to the UFC's Octagon but has largely faded into the background as a troublesome fighter who remains capable of brilliant moments. the matter is he's not an elite lightweight or welterweight despite only being 32 years old.


Maycee Barber's real test comes next: Barber was the most important favorite on the UFC 246 card. The 21-year-old was expected to blow through Roxanne Modafferi in their women's flyweight bout and continue her get up the rankings. Instead, Modafferi achieved the huge upset to derail Barber's hype train. The loss comes with an asterisk, however. Barber had clearly lost the primary round, but suffered a knee injury when she went backward from a Modafferi clock in the second. She was unable to explode offensively from that time on, resulting in more freedom for the veteran to blast away on the feet and still score takedowns.

Setbacks happen in sports, and seeing how Barber comes back from a loss where seemingly everything went wrong could also be a much more interesting story to follow than had she picked up the expected victory. Suffering a huge derailment in your life are often devastating at such a young age. that's only amplified during a sport where those setbacks come while you're getting punched within the face. Barber has the chance to point out a defining mental toughness to deal with the loss and injury and are available back stronger. If she will do this , her star will only still rise.

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