By Elliot Foster

Michael Conlan won on his homecoming.

The 26-year-old featherweight outpointed Brazil’s Adeilson Dos Santos over eight rounds

Conlan hasn’t boxed in his home city since December 2010 when he lost a controversial decision in the Ulster Senior Championships.

But he moved to 8-0 with five early at the SSE Arena in Belfast, exclusively live on BT Sport and BoxNation, in his first appearance outside of the US or Australia since turning professional under Bob Arum’s Top Rank and MTK Global back in September 2016.

‘The Conlan Revolution’, as it’s being billed, began on St Patrick’s Day in 2017 at Madison Square Garden and has since taken him to Chicago, Brisbane and Arizona.

But the 2016 Olympian, who was robbed by the judges against Vladimir Nikitin and is targeting a rematch with the Russian in the paid ranks, sent out a statement in front of his home fans, beating the former WBO super-bantamweight title challenger by 79-73 and coming out unscathed.

“It was a bit daunting, fighting back in Belfast, but that was my first proper fight and I was feeling it in there,” Conlan said afterwards.

“I was happy with the performance, but I’ve still got a lot to learn and I’m definitely not the finished article.

“I made some mistakes in there tonight, but that’s all about learning and I am happy to get the win in front of the Belfast fans and there are no fans like them in the world.”

In the co-feature, Jack Catterall lined up a potential showdown with Ohara Davies by getting a stoppage.

The Chorley super-lightweight, who is rated number four with the WBO, retained his WBO Inter-Continental title against Tyrone McKenna.

Catterall had a point deducted for landing a shot while McKenna was on the canvas and though referee Steve Gray didn’t take up a count, he was forced to just moments later after McKenna was dropped by a left hand from the smaller man.

And a 95-91 and 94-93 twice victory for the Jamie Moore-trained ‘El Gato’ will surely set up a showdown with former WBC super-lightweight Silver champion ‘OD’.