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“I can’t convince Conor to do sh*t. Conor will tell Conor what he’s gonna do.”
SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh has trained Conor McGregor since he was a teenager, but ‘The Notorious’ is his own man and makes his own decisions regarding his MMA career.
Many pundits think McGregor retiring earlier this month was just another negotiating ploy but, as far as Kavanagh can tell, ‘The Notorious’ really is finished with the UFC.
“Is Conor retired? Yes, he is as far as I can tell,” Kavanagh said during a recent Instagram Live Q&A (h/t MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin). “That’s what he said isn’t it?”
As for whether Kavanagh can convince McGregor to come out of retirement and make a comeback, the Irishman issued the following response.
“I can’t convince Conor to do sh*t,” he said with a laugh. “Conor will tell Conor what he’s gonna do.
“And who knows what’s going to happen in the future. But as for now, he’s retired.”
If McGregor were to return, Kavanagh would like to see the former two-division champ challenge Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title as he believes ‘motivated Conor’ can beat just about anyone.
“That would be an interesting one,” Kavanagh said of the Usman matchup. “A fair size difference in there. Look I’ll be honest, anybody up to or around about his weight class, if there is a very motivated Conor, I think he beats any of them.
“He has knockout power. He easily has knockout power up to that weight class, and if he was to put in a serious training camp, I think he wins.”
McGregor last fought at UFC 246, where he disposed of Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone via 40-second TKO. Despite being retired McGregor, 31, is currently ranked #8 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings and #4 in the UFC lightweight fighter rankings.