Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone will kick off the 2020 UFC pay-per-view schedule Jan. 18 when they headline UFC 246 in Las Vegas. The fight serves as McGregor’s highly anticipated return to the octagon after 14 months, while Cerrone receives the biggest opportunity of his nearly 14-year career. As part of an occasional series ahead of the matchup, let’s flash back to a McGregor interview where, after picking up his first win for Cage Warriors, he proceeded to send a message to the featherweight division.

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Conor McGregor has been calling his shots since Day 1.

The former two-division UFC champion took the mic after his first promotional win with Cage Warriors (where he also won two titles) and sent a message to the entire featherweight division.

McGregor defeated Aaron Jahnsen via first-round TKO in a lightweight bout at Cage Warriors: Fight Night 2 in 2011 then afterward delivered one of his patented speeches, altering the 145-pound division that he was coming for each one of them.

“I want that belt. Five fights I’m on a contract with Cage Warriors; that’s my first. I should send out a message to all the little scrawny featherweights out there that he was a stone heavier. He was a stone heavier than me, so imagine what I do to the other scrawny ass.”

McGregor would then move down to featherweight and deliver another first-round finish before challenging for the 145-pound title. He captured the promotion’s title via second-round submission.

McGregor’s Cage Warriors tenure would end with one more incredible accolade, when he moved back up to lightweight and captured his second championship simultaneously with one of his greatest knockouts, a first-round elbow over Ivan Buchinger.

That kickstarted his rise to stardom in the UFC, where he would go on and repeat the same feat, by capturing both the UFC featherweight and lightweight championships simultaneously.

McGregor is set to return after a more than year-long layoff next week, when he takes on Donald Cerrone in a welterweight bout at UFC 246.

UFC 246 takes place Jan. 18 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.

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