U.F.C. 246 Live Results: Yusuff Wins in a Decision

Sodiq Yusuff appears to be an exciting prospect at 145 pounds.

After the opening bell, Andre Fili of Sacramento, Calif., greeted his opponent, Sodiq Yusuff, with a raised hand, looking for a sportsmanlike touching of gloves. Yusuff, a rising contender from Camp Spring, Md., responded with a front kick that missed Fili’s face by what looked like an inch.

From there, the two featherweights spent three rounds trading punches — Yusuff landed more powerful ones — and takedowns. Fili brought Yusuff to the canvas more often, but Yusuff’s takedowns were more authoritative.

The bout ended in a workmanlike win for the 26-year-old Yusuff, with all three judges scoring it 29-28 (two rounds to one).

Askar Askarov beats Tim Elliott with a unanimous decision.

Russian flyweight Askar Askarov remained undefeated as a pro, with a unanimous decision win over an aggressive Tim Elliott.

Askarov dropped Elliott with a crisp left hand in the first round, but spent much of the second on his back thanks to judo-style hip tosses from Elliott, a 33-year-old from Lees Summit, Mo. Askarov retreated for much of round three but landed enough punches to win the fight.

The judges’ scores were: 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27.

Drew Dober starts off the ESPN preliminary bouts with a win in 70 seconds.

That didn’t take long.

Nasrat Haqparast saw an opening for a leg kick, so he threw one. But Drew Dober, a densely-muscled southpaw, saw a bigger opening — for an overhand left. Their blows landed simultaneously, but Dober’s did damage.

Haqparast hit the mat and Dober pummeled him with punches and elbows until the referee stopped the bout. It took 70 seconds and was, according to betting odds, an upset.

“I will knock anyone out in the division, I promise,” Dober said in the ring afterward.

There are four fights on the ESPN preliminary card, then five bouts on the main pay-per-view card.

Here is a list of the bouts in chronological order. The five-round main event will likely happen after midnight Eastern. The rest of the fights before then are scheduled for three rounds each.

Preliminary Card

• Drew Dober vs Nasrat Haqparast (lightweight)

• Tim Elliott vs Askar Askarov (flyweight)

• Andre Fili vs Sodiq Yusuff (featherweight)

• Roxanne Modafferi vs Maycee Barber (flyweight)

Main Card

• Anthony Pettis vs Diego Ferreira (lightweight)

• Brian Kelleher vs Ode’ Osborne (bantamweight)

• Aleksei Oleinik vs Maurice Greene (heavyweight)

• Holly Holm vs Raquel Pennington (bantamweight co-main event)

• Conor McGregor vs Donald Cerrone (welterweight main event)

The layoff from mixed martial arts is the second longest of McGregor’s career.

The 15-month span between McGregor’s loss to Nurmagomedov and Saturday night’s fight with Cerrone is the second-longest layoff of McGregor’s mixed martial arts career, and it’s not clear how the time off might affect his skills in the octagon.

McGregor spent nearly two years away from the octagon before he lost to Nurmagomedov, a period that included his big-money boxing match with Mayweather. The time off might have contributed to the loss, but the undefeated Nurmagomedov was a difficult opponent for McGregor no matter what.

Cerrone, in contrast, has been one of the U.F.C.’s busiest athletes. He competed four times in 2019 alone, winning twice and losing twice.

The weight limit of 170 pounds could work in Cerrone’s favor.

McGregor is a former featherweight and lightweight champion, but Saturday’s bout will take place in the welterweight division, where the 170-pound weight limit could favor the taller Cerrone.

McGregor has spent the vast majority of his career competing in the 145- and 155-pound divisions, and has only competed twice as a welterweight. In March 2016 he lost by submission to Nick Diaz, and five months later he defeated Diaz by submission.

Cerrone fought exclusively as welterweight for more than two years, winning six fights and losing four between February 2016 and November 2018. But all of his bouts in 2019 took place in the 155-pound class.

Conor McGregor is back headlining a U.F.C. card.

Conor McGregor, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s biggest star, is finally back in the octagon after a 15-month absence.

More than three years after losing to the boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a highly popular crossover bout, and after tapping out against Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018, McGregor is scheduled to headline U.F.C. 246 on Saturday night. The 31-year-old former champion in two weight classes will face Donald Cerrone, a kickboxing specialist from Albuquerque who is known professionally as Cowboy.

Leading up to the fight, McGregor has presented himself as mature and focused, still capable of spectacular violence in the octagon, but also promising that the numerous legal problems that derailed his 2019 are behind him.

McGregor, despite his absence, is the promotion’s best-known fighter. McGregor’s fans packed smaller events in Las Vegas leading up to the fight, and this week Reebok announced the release of a new shoe endorsed by McGregor. That a fighter who hasn’t won a bout since 2016 can generate this much attention from fans and sponsors highlights McGregor’s flair for self-promotion.

But he still has to fight.