Conor McGregor stops Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to win UFC belt

LAS VEGAS – Conor McGregor stopped Jose Aldo with one spectacular punch just 13 seconds into the first round Saturday night, backing up his bravado and claiming the undisputed featherweight title at UFC 194.

McGregor (19-2) finished the fight with an electrifying exchange shortly after the opening bell, slipping Aldo’s lead right and cracking Aldo on the jaw with a huge left hand.

Aldo (25-2) actually finished his punch and hit McGregor with a left, but the champ fell senseless to the ground. McGregor pounced, only to be pulled off in victory.

Aldo had won 18 consecutive fights over the last 10 years, but nothing seems to slow McGregor. The loquacious Irish brawler goaded Aldo throughout the promotion of their delayed bout, only to back up every word he said.

“Precision beats power, and timing beats speed,” McGregor said. “Jose was a phenomenal champion. He deserved to go a little bit longer, but I still feel at the end of the day, precision beats power and timing beats speed. That’s what happened.”

Luke Rockhold also claimed the UFC middleweight title with a bloody fourth-round stoppage of previously unbeaten champion Chris Weidman in front of a frenzied crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

But the sellout crowd was packed with thousands of screaming Irish fans who traveled to see whether their braggadocious countryman could back up his talk.

McGregor, a former plumber who was fairly late to take up mixed martial arts as a career, has won 15 consecutive fights since November 2010 while building an international celebrity. He is 7-0 in UFC bouts, stopping his last five opponents with his vicious punching power.

He picked one of the UFC’s most daunting targets in Aldo, who had made seven consecutive title defenses. McGregor targeted the imperious Brazilian champion with a steady stream of trash talk and entertaining antics, infuriating Aldo while making himself into a pay-per-view draw and arguably the UFC’s second-biggest star behind Ronda Rousey.

McGregor and Aldo were scheduled to meet at UFC 189 in July, but Aldo pulled out with an injury two weeks before the bout. McGregor stopped Chad Mendes to win the interim title belt but never stopped talking about Aldo.