Albuquerque fighters go 2-0; McGregor survives Diaz

Albuquerque-trained fighters went 2-0 with two impressive wins on the main card of Saturday night’s UFC 202 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Tim Means and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone earned impressive second-round TKOs in their welterweight fights, which preceded the card’s main event in which Conor McGregor survived a five-round slugfest with Nate Diaz for a majority decision win (48-47. 48-47, 47-47).

Diaz beat McGregor via third-round submission (rear naked choke) when the two fought in March.

In the first fight of the payper-view portion of the event, Means, who trains at FIT-NHB gym, welcomed Sabah Homasi into the UFC with an aggressive flurry of elbows and strikes — both from distance and in the clench — opening up a cut above Homasi’s left eye midway through the opening five-minute round.

It was more of the same in the second with Means (26-7) dominating Homasi (11-6) until referee Herb Dean stepped in and stopped the fight, giving Means a TKO (punches) victory (2:56, 2nd round).

As for Cerrone, the JacksonWink MMA veteran improved to 31-7 overall and 3-0 since moving up to the 170-pound welterweight division.

Dean also stepped in to stop this fight in the second round, giving Cerrone the win via TKO (2:02, 2nd round, punches) over Rick Story (19-9).

After the fight, Cerrone said he’d like his next fight to be back at 155 pounds against lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez. Cerrone beat him at UFC 178 in 2015.

“Madison Square Garden,” Cerrone said with a smile in an in-cage interview. “Me and Eddie. How about that? ... I can make the weight. Don’t you worry about that.”