WATCH: Conor McGregor delivers masterful performance against Donald Cerrone, three years ago today
Conor McGregor was absent from the octagon for much of his prime following his siege of the 155lb division back in 2016, but his activity began to increase starting with his domination of Donald Cerrone, which took place three years ago today.
After an all-time display against Eddie Alvarez, 'The Notorious' stepped away from the octagon and fought just once before making his long-awaited return over three years later against 'The Cowboy'. The one fight that separated his clashes at UFC 205 and UFC 246 was his iconic loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
To celebrate his electrifying performance against Donald Cerrone, UFC released a social media post showing Conor McGregor's incredible 40-second destruction of the former lightweight title challenger.
Watch the post below:
#OnThisDay in 2020, @TheNotoriousMMA only needed 40 SECONDS in his return to the Octagon 🤯
Watch all of his fights back on @UFCFightPass today! https://t.co/Gelknpu55H
Not only did the win put the entire division back on notice, but it signaled the Irishman's intent on wanting to recapture UFC gold. Despite looking almost flawless in the bout, his next two outings wouldn't quite live up to expectations.
A year after beating Cerrone, Conor McGregor stepped back into the cage and was welcomed by a man he had previously knocked out years prior, Dustin Poirier. Although the former 'champ-champ' looked comfortable and hit his opponent with some damaging shots, it was 'The Diamond' who came away with the victory.
In his next and most recent appearance in the UFC, the 34-year-old suffered an unfortunate leg break and approaching two years later, he has still not made a return to the sport.
Was Conor McGregor's win over Donald Cerrone significant?
In the build-up to UFC 246 on January 18, 2020, Conor McGregor carried himself completely differently from how he once was, being respectful to Cerrone and heavily cutting down on trash talk.
While many believed he had changed for the worse, the Dublin native quickly silenced the doubters with a display that continues to be mentioned to this day, but how significant was the win over his aging opponent?
Although it wasn't one of his biggest wins in terms of stature, McGregor still managed to sell a reported 1.35 million pay-per-view buys for the event, placing it fifth among the top five in UFC history. Sensationally, the sales for the card exceeded that of his first matchup against Nate Diaz four years prior.
At the time of his career, Conor McGregor's win over Cerrone may not have been the most noteworthy, but it did serve its purpose.