It was 13 seconds that shocked the world of mixed martial arts and elevated Conor McGregor to a status that only he may have previously foreseen.
This was, at the time, the biggest featherweight bout in the history of the UFC.
McGregor was riding a streak like no other.
The Dubliner left Cage Warriors with a 12-2 record and two titles to his name, debuting in the UFC in April 2013.
A first round stoppage of Marcus Brimmage was followed up a unanimous decision victory over featherweight prospect Max Holloway (August 2013).
The following year saw a brace of victories against Diego Brandao (first round TKO) and Dustin Poirier (first round TKO), with McGregor adding Dennis Siver to his scalp list in January 2015.
With five straight wins under his belt and the ability to back up every semblence of cocky, charismatic, Mystic-Macness, McGregor was bound for a featherweight showdown with the reigning, defending champion, Jose Aldo Jr.
Undefeated champion
Prior to facing McGregor, Aldo hadn’t tasted defeat in ten years.
You would have to go back al the way to November of that year, shipping a loss to Luciano Azevedo, the first loss of his professional career.
After that, through WEC and ultimately UFC, he would pick up wins over Cub Swanson, Mike Brown (winning the title), Urijah Faber, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes (twice), Frankie Edgar and Ricardo Lamas. Nobody could stop him.
Until they did.
From UFC 189 to 194
The original bout should was set for UFC 189, six months previous, only for Aldo to withdraw from injury.
But after two world tours and an almighty amount of trash talking later, the Irishman and long-reigning Brazilian champion would throw down at UFC 194.
With Also out of the running in the summer, Team Alpha Male’s Chad ‘Money’ Mendes stepped him, Mendes falling victim to Aldo twice in recent years.
The UFC had laid an interim featherweight title on the line, the winner getting a crack at Aldo once recovered.
Irish fans need not have worried – granted, it looked touch and go through the first round, but McGregor would have his had raised in round two and get his first taste of UFC glory.
In a way it was destiny.
The hype around UFC 194 was rarely seen. Ireland had taken over Las Vegas, the tricolour was everywhere and and for the 16,516 in atendance at the Grand Garden Arena, something special was on the way.
The main card saw the first three bouts go the distance – Max Holloway trumping Jeremy Stephens, Demian Maia seeing off McGregor’s training partner Gunnar Nelson over three rounds and Yoel Romero showing age is only a number with a win over Ronaldo Souza.
Luke Rockhold pushed Chris Weidman into the fourth round before taking the co-main event in the middleweight ranks.
With the group of us watching the fight at the time, we were merely counting down the hours until the that spine-tingling walkout.
When the cage door closed, we were already standing.
Whoever picked that moment to run out to get a glass of water or refill their 5am beer had to settle for the instant replays.
It was all done in 13 seconds. A few light touches and a left cross with Aldo’s chin exposed put the undefeated champ on the ground, John McCarthy waving the fight off when the hammer-fists game in.
I’m pretty sure any Irish fight fan who was watching had the same expression as Owen Roddy, Artem Lobov and John Kavanagh above.
But he did it, and we’re still talking about it.
With McGregor due to meet Dustin Poirier in a lightweight contest in January, relive the moments above and below that made him the featherweight king.
Post-fight interviews
The Rise and (Possible Fall) of Conor McGregor
Of course in the time since, it’s been a rollercoaster. One title became two with a win over Eddie Alvarez. A loss to and a win over Nate Diaz leaves a trilogy bout wide open.
A crack at Khabib Nurmagomedov fell short, but he would get back in the win column after a two-year break from the cage. A win over Cowboy in January this year was supposed to be the start of a busy season.
We’ve had bus-gate, court cases, May-Mac and more but we’ll never forget 12 December, 2015.
