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Home / Sport

Gone in 13 seconds: How the world reacted to Conor McGregor's one-punch victory

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13 Dec, 2015 05:46 PM5 mins to read

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Conor McGregor, left, fights Jose Aldo during a featherweight championship mixed martial arts bout at UFC 194, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, in Las Vegas. Photo / AP.

Conor McGregor, left, fights Jose Aldo during a featherweight championship mixed martial arts bout at UFC 194, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, in Las Vegas. Photo / AP.

The biggest fight in UFC history was also the fastest title fight ever, as Conor McGregor knocked Jose Aldo to the canvas with one punch inside 13 seconds.

The Irishman's left hook ended the fight in brutal fashion, and the world was left marvelling at the drama it had just witnessed. Here's how the world reacted.

The punch:

Precision beats power and timing beats speed

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McGregor let the world know that no matter how good Jose Aldo was, he was always going to be better.

"Nobody can take that left hand shot," McGregor told news.com.au after the fight.

"He's powerful, he's fast. But precision beats power and timing beats speed and that's what you saw there.

"I feel for Jose, he was a phenomenal champion. We deserved to go a lot longer, but I still feel at the end of the day precision beats power and timing beats speed every day of the week so it would've happened sooner rather than later."

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"Ireland, Baby, WE DID IT!" #UFC194 #AndNew https://t.co/9HbO6TpjWK

— UFC (@ufc) December 13, 2015

Movement coach was key

McGregor revealed the most important move he made in claiming the featherweight title happened well before he even stepped into the Octagon.

He said working with movement coach Ido Portal was key to giving him the best chance to beat the Brazilian.

"We brought in Mr Ido Portal this week for fight week ... we trained for a couple of days which was perfect because the hard training is about entering the contest fresh, your body supple and free," said McGregor.

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"Fight week is already a stressful week, there's already a lot of struggle, so you must make it as least amount of that as possible. Bringing in Ido was phenomenal. It re-centred the mind, it changed the training. It was movement based, there was no contact."

"I've always been fascinated by movement, I always look at people that can move in unusual ways and who have complete control of their frame. I don't just see them as having control of their body and frame, but they have control over their mind.

"When I woke up today I didn't wake up with my brain telling me my foot was sore ... this time I woke up and there was absolutely nothing wrong. I felt free. I felt in control and free."

Every fighter on the planet is hiring a movement coach on Monday #UFC194

— Nick Newell (@NotoriousNewell) December 13, 2015

What happened to Aldo?

Jose Aldo, who had not been beaten in a decade, had a simple explanation for what happened inside the Octagon. But he was already looking towards the future.

"He threw a cross on my chest which I wasn't expecting and I threw a punch and he came back with another cross and that was that," Aldo said.

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"I think we need a rematch because that was not really a fight, so we need to get back in here. "We're going to have to come back in here."

But while Aldo's words suggested he was planning ahead, the pain of what occurred clearly cut him deep as a photo showed him sitting on the floor, head in hands and surrounded by his team.

This photo is heart breaking, he was a great champ for the past 6 years, and is a legend of the game. #UFC194 pic.twitter.com/5xRb2hUVTi

— Keith Ó Gealbháin (@KeithGalvin) December 13, 2015

The media

The media both in Ireland and around the world was left writing its articles in awe of McGregor as he provided the sport with a moment that will be talked about for years to come.

Writing for Irish publication the Independent, Joe Callaghan said McGregor was now bigger than the sport itself.

"He left the history of his sport in his wake," wrote Callaghan.

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"You sense McGregor has now truly transcended the sport to such a degree that it will be his decision what happens from here. On the UFC's biggest ever week, its true star outshone all the rest.

"The McGregor Show, after its most sensational episode yet, is the only show in town."

The Irish Times said the stunning victory was just another chapter in the legend that is Conor McGregor.

"It was a fight. And it was perfect. Not simply in its execution but in that it adds so much to the McGregor lore. Thirteen seconds. Against a man who hadn't lost in over a decade. Yes, that happened."

The Bleacher Report's senior MMA columnist Mike Chiappetta thought McGregor's most impressive achievement wasn't just that he threw such an effective left hook, but that he threw it under such immense pressure.

"The extra pressure he placed upon himself would have crushed most," wrote Chiappetta.

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"It is difficult to quantify how much extra stress he put upon his journey by being so vocal about his perceived place in the fight world. He had much of it plotting his demise, sending private little hexes his way, and sometimes openly cursing him. The attention at times had to be crushing.

"But for McGregor, his words were never a prediction. They were a vow. And on Saturday, at UFC 194, he delivered what he had always promised: UFC gold.

"One thing is clear: It's McGregor's world now."

Social media

It didn't take 13seconds it took he's whole career to land that one punch.

— Philly Mc Mahon (@PhillyMcMahon) December 13, 2015
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