Conor McGregor took 40 seconds to obliterate Donald Cerrone and launch his comeback in outrageous style. The ‘Notorious’ looked every inch the slick, powerful and technically brilliant operator that took over the sport, maybe even better.

‘Any one of these mouthy fools can get it!’ he roared above the din having put the welterweight division on red alert.

It has been a long, painful road back to this point after the crushing disappointment of the defeat by Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018. ‘They thought I was toast, but I’m still the bread’, the Irishman said this week and he backed it up.

McGregor stood under the spotlights with his eyes closed, head turned skywards and arms outstretched as he was announced to the packed out T-Mobile Arena. His walk-out took much longer than the fight, for which he’ll take home $3million, before all the pay-per-view bonuses are added.

The Irish thoroughbred charged towards ‘Cowboy’, stunning him and busting the American’s nose with a clever flurry of shoulder barges to the head in the first exchange. They separated and Cerrone unleashed a head kick. McGregor replied in kind and found the target, wobbling his opponent before uncorking five left hands in succession.