Kavanagh defends McGregor
Kavanagh says he did not know McGregor had announced he was back on UFC 200, until he saw McGregor’s tweet.
We left Iceland very early this morning and we ended up getting separated, going different ways. I turned my phone on. I was with Gunni and Paddy Holohan and thing’s started going crazy, I saw this message. I didn’t know about this and neither did his manager, so it was news to both of us when we saw it. I haven’t spoken to Conor since….I presume I’m going to see Conor at training and find out the exact news, but that’s how I heard about it…Things seem to be coming down to… I guess ego isn’t the right word, but at some stage you’ve got to see that it’s pointless. It upset so many fans that wanted to see this fight and ignore the kind of numbers that it brought in over a press conference where it tends to be more or less the same questions asked every time. It’s not the same for Conor to have to travel half way across the world when others only have to go down the road.
Kavanagh: McGregor will fight again
Kavanagh says McGregor will definitely fight again.
Conor’s going to fight again. He’s going to fight at 201 or 202, or 203 – whatever the deal might be. We’ll see what’s next you know when that plays out. 200 is the fight that everybody has been looking forward to for a long time. It is what it is, the show is going to roll on and Conor will fight again.
Kavanagh on McGregor’s pre-196 mistakes
According to an excerpt from Kavanagh’s upcoming autobiography, the lack of cutting weight caused a lack of focus in McGregor’s team leading up to UFC 196.
Not having to cut weight for the fight against Diaz was supposedly helpful, but in hindsight it was undoubtedly a hindrance. Cutting weight may not be much fun, but it does serve as a reminder that you’re preparing for a fight. It focuses the mind and has been an enormous part of what we’ve been doing. Without that ritual, things were just weird. It left us all in an unusual state of mind. The routine we had established was suddenly absent. The need to cut weight gets the fighter in the zone and lets them know that a fight is on the horizon. If a person is starving, they’re in survival mode. It focuses the mind and taps into the reptilian part of the brain. When Conor is cutting weight, he views his opponent as an obstacle in the way of his next meal. It’s a primal thing. On the other hand, when you’ve eaten a good dinner, all you want to do is relax in front of the TV. The fire in your belly is replaced by food. Being stuffed isn’t conducive to maintaining a competitive mindset.
Kavanagh says another mistake was to stay in Ireland as long as they did, delaying the trip to the United States until just two weeks prior to fight night.
Two weeks isn’t quite long enough to spend in the US before a fight like that. We need at least three, ideally four…There were mistakes made and, as the coach, I’ll take ownership of them. We should have travelled out sooner. We should have maintained the same level of meticulous preparation and competitive mindset that we had become accustomed to. We won’t be tucking into desserts, driving around in flashy cars and f-cking about.
Could ask for stake in $4bn UFC sale
Kavanagh says he expects McGregor to ask for an equity stake in UFC if it is sold. Kavanagh said “it is true” that the UFC was for sale, but he does not know the details.
Conor will have thought of this and I am sure, when he is sitting down with his new overlords, he will have that conversation…What will happen when it is sold, if it is sold? Short answer is, I don’t know what will happen the daily operations of it . . . it is a truly global company now. Like any big takeover, there will be a period of finding your feet again.
Kavanagh: McGregor will only fight Mayweather for 50%
Kavanagh says that the rumoured $100 million fight between McGregor and Mayweather would happen, but only if revenues were split evenly between both men.
There was talk that Conor would get $7 million and Floyd would get the rest of it. It will be an even share or Conor will not do it . . . There is no one generating the type of media that Conor i. It would have to be an even split. Conor is not going to take it if Floyd is getting more than him. Floyd needs Conor more than Conor needs Floyd right now.
Kavanagh said he believed that McGregor could beat Mayweather, despite the boxer having a record of 49 wins and no defeats.
Floyd is amazing. He is incredible. I don’t think there is a boxer who could beat him. He has figured out boxing, but Conor doesn’t move like a boxer.
Kavanagh: McGregor undergoing ‘military style’ training
Coach Kavanagh says McGregor is reaching new levels of training in Las Vegas.
If I was to sum it up, there’s order to this training camp. There’s no chaos. Everything is very disciplined, very military style. Beforehand, it was kind of done on Conor’s whim, how he felt on a certain day. This training camp has been based on cycles. Every day, we start at 1 p.m. sharp. In the evenings, we do cardio training. Everything is measured, nothing is left to ‘How you feeling?’ We have a performance doctor taking care of the performance side of things, I’m taking care of the fighting side of things, everybody is working together and nothing we’ve done before comes close to comparison for this one…he last couple of weeks there has been a real level of growth to what he has been able to do. Now, he really is a truly elite athlete. He has always been an incredible fighter, but now, training like a true Olympian-style champion — for me, that’s a scary combination.
Kavanagh expects decisive McGregor win, no Diaz rematch
Kavanagh says that he expects McGregor to win against Diaz so comprehensively that another rematch won’t be required.
I want this win to be in such a way that there are no questions. If this is a back-and-forth contest, if Conor ekes out a decision, then it has to be [a rubber match]. Nate obviously did fantastic in their first match. Conor accepted the change of weight class and style with very short notice, but you’ve got to give massive props to Nate. He accepted it on very short notice [too]. Now let’s do it where both guys have had months and months of preparation, and there can be no questions asked. And let’s make the victory in such a way that no one can say, ‘Well, he was close, he was close, let’s do the best out of three’. Neither can bitch or moan. Conor can’t say anything about it — ‘Well, new style of opponent, new weight class’ — and Nate can’t say anything about, ‘Well, it was on nine day’s notice’. No. You both knew who you were fighting, you both knew at what weight class, you both had months of preparation. Who won that one? I want that to be decisive. Now, in saying that, maybe there still is cause for a rubber match, but I think it’ll be done in such a way that there won’t be.
Kavanagh: McGregor will beat Aldo again
Despite his admiration for Aldo’s performance, Kavanagh says he does not expect a different outcome when Aldo meets McGregor, most likely in November. He also expresses his regret at the fact that Edgar was unable to get the job done against Aldo.
Probably I had a little personal vision or dream of it being Edgar going in and doing amazing against Aldo…It would have been just amazing. As storylines go, that would have been really, really exciting. Really, really interesting. But I guess Aldo showed he had ‘The Answer’ again, and I think Aldo — I said this in the lead-up to Conor’s fight — is one of the best in the world at beating short wrestlers…There are certain things he’s doing that are really, really brilliant, but then on the other side I look at it and go, ‘It’s pretty much the same guy that [Conor] beat the last time’. It’s not the most unpredictable style — Muay Thai, defensive wrestling. It just looked a very similar guy…I think [Aldo] has improved a lot at beating that sort of guy again, but Conor’s not a short wrestler. I’m sure Aldo will have a more tempered approach the next time. I think the first time he did certain things that I don’t think he will do the second time. It will be very hard to beat 13 seconds the second time but he will definitely want to show his dominance and that it wasn’t a lucky punch.
Kavanagh: McGregor will win in four rounds
Kavanagh says that McGregor will score a fourth-round finish over Diaz in the Aug. 20 rematch.
[Conor’s preparation has been] 100 times more serious this time around. [He] got tired early by throwing too many power shots.
Kavanagh ‘always knew’ McGregor would world champion
Kavanagh says he knew McGregor was special, after seeing him train at SBG Ireland’s gym as an 18-year-old novice to mixed martial arts.
It was very obvious from early on that Conor had this unusual set of skills contained in the one person. It’s tempting to talk about Muhammad Ali when you talk about Conor just from the showman side of things. There is a certain set skills, as Liam Neeson might say, that are required to become the no.1 in this world. And certainly being very good at the sport is a huge part of it. But to have the x-factor, to be able to have charisma, to be able to speak on the mic and be able to deal with the heavy media attention, that’s something that I don’t think you can be taught. That’s something that’s in somebody or it’s not. I’ve seen it before with guys who are incredible in the gym but the can’t do it on fight night or they can’t handle the pressures of dealing with a bunch of interviews and so on and so forth.
Kavanagh: McGregor looking for dominance
In an interview on Fox Sports, Coach Kavanagh says McGregor is looking to make a statement.
I really feel it has to be a very dominant performance to make the type of statement that Conor wants to make. For me, round 1 was quite one sided. I’m pretty sure anybody would have scored that round for Conor. That’s the way I see it going this time. Even more in Conor’s favor, because there was some exchanges in that first round that he was still figuring out which way Nate moves. Whereas now it’s been a fairly obsessive couple of months where we feel we have a very strong game plan to counter everything he does. I expect it to be one sided, but how long as it lasts, it’s difficult to predict. But as long as it does last, I expect it to be one sided.
Kavanagh: McGregor nearly went off the rails
Kavanagh says that, after his loss to Sitenkov in 2008, McGregor stopped attending SBG and went missing for a few weeks. Concerned by his behaviour, McGregor’s mother, Margaret, called Kavanagh to try and get him to convince her son to return to training and steer him back on track.
Yeah (it was big). Maybe you and me wouldn’t be talking now (if it didn’t happen). At that stage, he’d already disappeared for four or six weeks. I kind of just moved on with what I was doing and sort of half forgot about him if I’m being honest. Over the years, I must have had what must be over tens of thousands of guys come through my doors at this stage. You get these little flames of enthusiasm and sparks of possibilities but then they fizzle out for the 99.9-per-cent. So, I think I was already putting him down to being one of those could’ve been type people. And maybe if I hadn’t of driven up that night to try give us one more chance, maybe he would’ve been a has been and be that guy on the bar stool talking about ‘I could’ve been that guy, I could’ve done this.’ So yeah, I’m glad his mother called me and I’m of course very happy that I went up there and we worked it out and he came back. And since then, we’ve been a fairly rock-solid team.
Kavanagh: ‘We did it’
Coach Kavanagh posts a picture to Instagram.
We did it @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/EXOaoSs9h8
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) August 21, 2016
Kavanagh: No leg injury
Coach Kavanagh confirms to MMA Hour that McGregor did not injure his foot or leg during his fight with Diaz. McGregor landed 40 kicks to the leg of Diaz throughout the 25 minutes.
It’s a bad bruise and it’s very, very painful but there’s no damage. He never mentioned it [that he was injured] but I saw. If I remember correctly, in the third round there were one or two where Nate did turn his knee out and started checking them. And the range was a little bit wrong so he was kind of slapping with the foot and caught Nate’s knee. I just remember seeing that but I knew with adrenaline and with his mindset, it wasn’t going to make a difference. His shin could be clean snapped and he wasn’t going to stop for the five rounds. We discussed it as well. He knew he was going to bang up his left leg. That was going to be the sacrifice. It was going to be a bruised leg but victorious.
Kavanagh: McGregor should fight Alvarez next
Kavanagh says he would like to see McGregor challenge Alvarez for the lightweight title.
1 – dont know whats next. decision made over the next 2 weeks i'd imagine. personally i'd like 55 title….but we'll see what happens.
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) August 24, 2016
2 – leg is fine. in theory could be ready for NY BUT nothing definite, see tweet no.1
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) August 24, 2016
Henry disses Kavanagh
In reply to a screenshot of an article where Kavanagh said he’d prefer for McGregor to go to 155lb and fight Alvarez for the lightweight championship, and in addition predicted a second round knockout, Henry says:
John Kavanagh, for a jiu-jitsu coach who can’t event teach his student Conor McGregor how to tie his belt and just got subbed quick you have a lot to say. PS give the proceeds of your book to the striking coach, he deserves it.
Kavanagh responds:
it won't. I'll focus on my fighter. I'm not a fighter and I'm not interested in headlines, I'm just a coach doing my best.
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) August 30, 2016
‘I used to struggle to sell McGregor tickets’
At the BAMMA 26 press conference in Dublin, Kavanagh says that he used to struggle to sell ticket for McGregor fights.
You know sometimes I laugh because I used to run small amateur shows, well they were pro fights back then but they really were amateur shows, and I remember I had a show with Gunnar Nelson, Conor McGregor, Aisling Daly and Paddy Holohan and it was a tenner for a ticket and I struggled selling them. I’d probably sell them out now pretty handy, but what I’d say to fans now is [BAMMA 26] is your chance to look at future stars [in Irish MMA]. For me BAMMA is more or less the top show in Europe, and you don’t have to be bowing down to the UFC, because as far as I’m concerned, these fighters have skill levels that are as good as anyone, regardless if they fight in the UFC or BAMMA.
Next fight to be decided ‘within days’
Coach Kavanagh says that McGregor will decide on his next fight when he returns to Ireland in the next few days. On the potential of a fight with Alvarez:
It’s a great fight…It’s a pretty straightforward fight for Conor to be honest. Will he get it? I can tell you that we’re in talks. It will be decided whether they are going to go with that fight within days…If the next fight is for the lightweight strap, they will take the featherweight belt off Conor. I think that’s a given. I guess, the little bit of consolation Conor will take from that is that it will be two guys he has beaten fighting for the vacant featherweight title…It will probably be (Max) Holloway and (Jose) Aldo. He beat one in 13 seconds and one on one leg. It’s hard to say that on paper he isn’t the champion when he’s beaten the two guys who are fighting for his belt. He’ll probably do the same to the lightweight division.
Denies McGregor sparring knockout
Kavanagh denies that McGregor was knocked out n sparring, and posts an Instagram as proof.
Free tip – Just because its on the Internet doesn't mean its true 😂
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) October 10, 2016
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLbNVZFg8aH/
Talks about Ronaldo at J-Lo’s party
Kavanagh talks about going to J-Lo’s party with McGregor and Ronaldo. When McGregor was taken away by Lopez for a dance, Ronaldo questioned the coach.
Ronaldo comes over and tells me that he reads everything I write and follows me on Instagram. I’m thinking ‘Wait until I tell my dad about this’…[Even though I moved to another part of the party] he kept coming over, and then he would drift away, and then I’d be in another part [of the house] and he’d come over again…This guy is just like Conor. Just a one-track mind, no interest in anything else. Civilians would call them obsessed or say there was something wrong with them, but you can’t get to that level unless you have that personality.