Dustin Poirier defeats Conor McGregor with a knockout in the 2nd round

Fighter Dustin Poirier defeated Conor McGregor early Sunday in a much-anticipated Ultimate Fighting Championship re-match that left McGregor down for the count in the second round.

The stunning defeat came after McGregor spent more than a year away from the UFC. He called that time a “wild ride.”

Conor McGregor calls his return a ‘wild ride’ as he prepares to make comeback from third retirement

“I’m very excited to be back here,” he said during a pre-fight press conference on Thursday. “I’m very excited to have fans in here. I feel invigorated.”

UFC champion Conor McGregor has announced his retirement

McGregor first announced back in October he had accepted the fight against Poirier — in what was a rematch from 2014, where the Irish fighter took less than two minutes to knock Poirier out.

The American told CNN he learned a lot from that defeat and six years later, felt “more prepared now on the mental side.”

“Before, when I was younger, I didn’t put a whole lot into the mental side of fighting. I listened to critics. I listened to opinions of people. I listened to Conor,” Poirier previously said. “Now, that’s just noise to me.”

CNN’s Richard Parr and Don Riddell contributed to this report.

>>>>