McGregor gets punchbag machine high score
Coach Kavanagh posts a video of McGregor getting the high score on an arcade punching bag machine.
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: McGregor still interested in 145 fights
Kavanagh says he and McGregor have been watching the featherweight division and that what happens next will depend on how the next couple months play out
The short answer is I don’t know [if Conor will return to 145 pounds]. I’m very intrigued to see the Aldo and Edgar fight. I hope Aldo is fully recovered from the bad knockout. I thought (Chad) Mendes went back in there really quick after the knockout against Conor. People don’t realize the damage it does — it takes a long time to recover, and I think Mendes went down quicker in that fight because of that. Maybe if he’d let himself rest a bit more he might have had more fight for Edgar. I hope that’s not the case for Aldo, (I hope) we get to see a solid version of Aldo and a new kind of improved Edgar, and see what different from the first fight. So yea, let’s see that, and assess after the rematch. It’s kind of those two names and (Max) Holloway kind of in the mix, so it’s an interesting time….I thought Holloway looked fantastic the other night [at UFC 199]. I’ve said it ever since Conor fought Max, I had him as the second best 145er in the division.
Kavanagh: Surprised if McGregor-Mayweather doesn’t happen
During a talk with MMA Underground, Kavanagh says he thinks McGregor-Mayweather will happen.
It puts it on hold. I think that contest will happen eventually but it’s on hold for now. I’d be very surprised if it doesn’t at some stage. I think it’s a bigger fight; I think there’s a lot of intrigue about it. I could be 100% wrong. Right now we’re focusing on August 20th. We have an important rematch – a mixed martial arts fight – but if in time that fight was to be announced it would not surprise me and I think it would be an interesting one.
It’s hard to beat Floyd with boxing because he seems to be almost perfect in terms of how defensive he is. I think if you’re a classically trained boxer you’re gonna lose to Floyd because he just seems to make everybody look quite ordinary. But maybe somebody who doesn’t strike like a boxer might be a new look for him. Maybe the odd sly knee and leg kick as well. [Laughs.] You get two warnings. [Laughs.]
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.
An Evening with John Kavanagh talk
To see the way that last fight went, I can’t live with it…The last fight, mid-round, I wasn’t listening, I wasn’t paying attention. That was one of the errors I made…I was a little bit heavy around the mid-section, I was over-trained and it came back and bit me in the ass…I’m looking forward to the rematch; to going back out and showing what we have learned…I’m working my nuts off for this rematch. Believe me on that. I’m feeling very confident that I’ll go in and toy with this man. He was one or two shots from being done.
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 3.0 is stronger, more focussed
McGregor and Kavanagh talk about the fighter’s training program in a profile in the Irish Examiner. McGregor starts training at 1pm, with intense workout for over an hour. After lunch he spars with partners brought over from all around the world, finishing with more cardio in the evening. McGregor:
[For UFC 196] I was waking up late and training late, showing up here at maybe 2pm and still being here till one in the morning. Like a buzzing light. Buzzzz. I was never fully on and I was never off. I was just there. That’s not what this game is about. You need to be…[clicks fingers]…On.
Kavanagh admits he did not pay enough attention to McGregor’s training, and that the Diaz loss has helped them focus.
After the Aldo fight, I’ll admit in terms of training Conor, my foot went off the pedal altogether. I got caught up with stuff in the gym…It was supposed to be only for a week or two but it turned into six or seven and then I realised ‘We’re just two weeks out from this and I’ve barely done a session with Conor.’ Now it’s every day. We’re here at 1pm. Sharp…The only reason it didn’t happen for Conor in round two was because he got tired. That’s one thing that will not happen in this contest…The Conor that’s going out there on August 20 is an absolutely new model. This is Conor 3.0 compared to what went up against Diaz in March. And I’ve said it to Conor, whenever he’s fought his next few fights and he calls it a day, we will look at the first Diaz fight as the absolute most positive thing that ever happened to us because it taught us so much.
Kavanagh gives McGregor title belts
Kavanagh presents McGregor with two world title belts.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BH1XyceBAqL/
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.
Sparring Day video
The Mac Life releases a video of McGregor’s training with Kavanagh at camp in Las Vegas. McGregor starts the day with a sparring session, before moving on to a more cardiovascular concentrated workout.
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.
The Mac Life Birthday video
The Mac Life releases a video of McGregor celebrating his birthday with Devlin in Las Vegas, by taking the head of a piñata, blowing out birthday candles, training with his team, and working out.
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.
McGregor, Kavanagh Rolling video
The Mac Life releases a video of McGregor and coach Kavanagh rolling in training.
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.
