Conor McGregor took out Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in 40 seconds to win his UFC return on Saturday night.

He was a heavy favorite going into this one, fighting a respected veteran who was well past his prime and coming off a pair of losses in which he was unable to hang with highly-ranked guys who are closer to McGregor’s level.

Conor beat Cowboy with a head kick and flurry of punches, but damaged him early in the fight with his shoulders, if you can believe it. Cerrone ate a couple of those lunges in the clinch, looked out of sorts, and finished the bout having thrown just one strike, which was a leg kick that McGregor blocked.

So what’s next for Conor? This was a fight at 170 pounds, and if he stays there, I’d like to see him take on:

Jorge Masvidal

Not a title fight, but arguably two of the post popular fighters on the planet right now.

Masvidal’s boxing would be a huge test for McGregor, and Jorge is coming off three straight impressive wins against Nate Diaz, Ben Askren, and Darren Till. The lead up to this one would be fantastic, as both guys are good on the mic, truly talk a big game, and then back it up in the octagon. McGregor could turn a big-money fight against Masvidal into a title shot at 170 pounds, which would be just as intriguing to me as if he went back down to 155 to fight:

Khabib Nurmagomedov

Dana White wants to do the Conor/Khabib rematch, which is truly an insult to Tony Ferguson and other fighters who are currently in line to challenge for the lightweight belt.

Conor lost to Khabib in his last UFC fight prior to the Cowboy bout, and you can’t give him a rematch right now, not while Justin Gaethje is ranked #3 and Ferguson has yet to even fight Nurmagomedov, which is scheduled for April. If Conor drops back down to 155, let him fight Gaethje next, and then give the winner to Khabib. That’s the fair way to do it, not the cash-grab way to do it, which is what Eddie Alvarez pointed out when we spoke to him last month at a Sixers game:

Alvarez: I love the UFC, I love watching it. An event like the last one I just saw (UFC 245), it’s the best vs. the best, the whole main card reminded me of the old UFC where you had Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre, loaded cards from top to bottom and real fights. What’s happening is, I don’t like the way they’re making their own rules. Jose Aldo just lost to Marlon Moraes, a friend of mine, and Dana (White) goes public and says Aldo is getting a title shot. Like, what?

Crossing Broad: Almost like there’s no rhyme or reason?

Alvarez: Yeah, imagine that in this sport (basketball). You’re in the playoffs, a team wins and gets the right to go to the championship. The league doesn’t see it profitable enough so they just let another team go.

Crossing Broad: Like setting up the New York Knicks and LA Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Alvarez: Yeah!

Crossing Broad: Because people will watch it on TV.

Alvarez: It’s happening across the board. You hear them saying Conor is gonna get a title shot if he beats Cowboy. He got wiped out by Khabib. It wasn’t close. You get wiped out and you have to be honest with yourself. A lot of people have beaten Cowboy. I lost to Cowboy but Cowboy has lost something like seven out of his last 10 fights.

Agree with Eddie on that. Obviously Dana White is gonna put together big money fights as any executive in combat sports would, so it is what it is.

Nate Diaz

Problem with a Diaz trilogy fight is that it doesn’t move Conor anywhere closer to where he needs to be. It doesn’t move him closer to the 170 pound belt. It doesn’t move him closer to Khabib. It would be a Cowboy, part 2, like a return bout that serves in a symbolic fashion but doesn’t provide anything tangible. I don’t see them making this fight.

Conor wants to fight Khabib again, but if I’m the UFC matchmakers, I’m asking him if he wants to fight Jorge Masvidal at 170 in what would be an incredibly high-profile matchup. Then, depending on the results of Leon Edwards and Tyron Woodley at UFC London, you could eye a McGregor vs. Kamaru Usman bout for the welterweight belt. Conor could, theoretically, become the first three-division champion in UFC history.

That’s more intriguing to me than seeing another bad blood Conor/Khabib fight, the first of which resulted in a post-fight brawl in which Khabib jumped into the crowd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvUGioRIivw