Conor McGregor's heartwarming gesture following UFC 246 wins 'Moment of the Year' at the Open Mat Award
Conor McGregor hugging Donald Cerrone's grandmother minutes after knocking him out at UFC 246 has received the Open Mat 'Moment of the Year' for 2020.
Dan Hardy, Nick Peet, and Adam Catterall recently hosted the first Open Mat Awards for BT Sport and decided the winners in several categories, including 'Moment of the Year'.
It probably became an image for the ages when Grandma Cerrone hurried into the octagon minutes after his grandson was knocked out in 40 seconds, and hugged the same fighter who was the reason behind it. The love and respect between Conor McGregor and Jerry Cerrone was palpable, as the two hugged it out in the middle of the octagon.
Donald Cerrone was cheered on from the cage-side by his grandmother at UFC 246, just like he has been in multiple fights of his career. Jerry Cerrone is a frequent audience member at all of Cowboy's bouts in UFC.
Conor McGregor: She’s just a phenomenal woman, that lady!
Jerry Cerrone became one of the first people to congratulate Conor McGregor on his brilliant return to the octagon. There was a big show of respect in the entire bout altogether. The first thing Conor McGregor did after winning the fight was to embrace Donald Cerrone, whose face was battered from Conor's shoulder strikes during the action.
They shook hands once again later on, and Conor McGregor went ahead seeing Cerrone's grandmother inside the cage to hug her. After the fight, The Irishman praised her wholeheartedly to MMA Junkie, and also said how honored he was to have shared the cage with the man she has raised.
"She’s just a phenomenal woman, that lady,” McGregor told MMA Junkie. “She’s there from the first fight of the night to the final fight of the night. Even after the bout, she came over and showed me respect. I showed her respect, and it was great to finally meet her."
"You see her. She’s a prevalent part of the game, isn’t she? Donald’s fought so much, and that lady is there from the start of the fight to the finish. What a lady. What a man she’s raised. I’m very, very, very honored to share the cage with Donald. I’m very proud. He’s a good man, and he’s got good people behind him. Much respect."
Other nominees in the category, which they named 'I'm Not Crying, You're Crying!' were Uriah Hall saying 'I'm sorry, I love you' to Anderson Silva after the latter's retirement, Justin Gaethje consoling Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 254, and Alistair Overeem comforting Walt Harris at the Fight Night on May 16.