McGregor knocks out Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194

MANILA, Philippines (SECOND UPDATE) – Conor McGregor ended the nearly 5-year reign of Jose Aldo as the world featherweight champion by knocking out the Brazilian in the main event of UFC 194 on Sunday, December 13 (PH Time) at the 16,800-seater MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

McGregor finished the job in just 13 seconds, earning the feat of fastest championship victory in UFC history by dropping Aldo with a counter left hook before polishing off with hammerfists on the mat.

Holy God! McGregor just ended it. #wha? pic.twitter.com/fe2ODYvFea

— Today FM (@todayfm) December 13, 2015

The 27-year-old native of Dublin, Ireland made it a point to set up his signature left hand early on as Aldo lunged forward furiously and connected a wild left hook of his own, but the champion was sent crashing down to the canvas due to the massive impact of McGregor’s counter left. 

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With Aldo lying on the ground, McGregor punctuated with follow-up vicious blows to the head to compel referee “Big” John McCarthy to step in and halt the contest. 

“Nobody can take that left hand shot. He’s powerful and he’s fast, but precision beats power and timing beats speed,” McGregor said in the post-fight interview.

McGregor, who unified his interim title with Aldo’s gold-plated strap to become the official UFC featherweight champion, admitted that he did not expect a short night as he was willing to go the full 5 rounds with his arch-nemesis. 

“He’s a phenomenal champion. We deserved to go a little bit longer,” he said.

With the statement-making triumph, McGregor improves his prizefighting record to 19-2 and extends his winning streak to 15 bouts. 

McGregor is just the second ever 145-pound champion after Aldo was awarded the company’s inaugural featherweight title when he joined the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization in 2011 following a dominant run as champion in World Extreme Cagefighting. 

Aldo downgrades his win-loss standing to 25-2 and tastes his first defeat since November 2005 when he yielded to Luciano Azevedo via second-round submission under the Jungle Fight banner. 

Aldo promised to bounce back from the first-round knockout setback and said he would like to have a rematch against McGregor inside the Octagon. 

“This is a fight. These things happen. I’ll be back,” Aldo stated. “I think we need a rematch. It really wasn’t a fight. We need to get back in here.” – Rappler.com