Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone was served a plate full of shoulder strikes by Conor McGregor, finished off with a serving ground and pound. But that hasn’t stopped the UFC veteran from respecting his UFC 246 adversary.

In the blockbuster main event on Saturday 18th January, ‘The Notorious’ made his much anticipated Octagon return to face Cerrone. The fight was seemingly over as soon as it began, as the Irishman finished ‘Cowboy’ by TKO in just 40 seconds of the first round.

The former two-division champion basked in the glory of his statement victory, whilst still showing respect to Cerrone and his family. In the run-up to their UFC 246 fight, McGregor showed an underlying respect to the 36-year old and his fighting style – a far cry from his last fight against arch-nemesis, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

During the post-fight press conference, McGregor gave credit to Donald Cerrone and his grandmother (who always attends his fights):

“She’s just a phenomenal woman, that lady,” Conor McGregor said.  “She’s there from the first fight of the night to the final fight of the night and even after the bout, she came over [and] showed me respect. I showed her respect, and it was great to finally meet her.

“You see her,“she’s a prevalent part of the game, isn’t she? Donald’s fought so much, and that lady’s there from the start of the fight to the finish, man. What a lady. What a man she’s raised. I’m very, very honored to share the cage with Donald. I’m very proud. He’s a good man, and he’s got good people behind him. Much respect.”

The outcome was a disappointment for Cerrone who was already coming off back-to-back losses to Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson. However, he took the L in his stride and credited Conor McGregor for his “a*s whooping” abilities.

On his Instagram story, Cerrone responded to the fan question, “Are you friends with McGregor now?”

Natasha Hooper from BJPenn.com tweeted a screenshot of the comment:

Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone admits it’s hard not to be friends with Conor McGregor after receiving an ‘ass-whooping’ in the main event of UFC 246. pic.twitter.com/SPL41eIeUg

— natashajane_mma1 (@MmaNatashajane) February 6, 2020

Cerrone answered, “After an a*s whooping like that, it’s hard not to be.”

Donald Cerrone’s next opponent remains to be seen. But for the meantime, the ‘Cowboy’ can make the most of a well-deserved paycheck from the terrific PPV event.