Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh believes all the hate they’ve been getting only pushes them to do better.
Conor McGregor has been one of the biggest polarizing figures in MMA, and now in all of combat sports. While he has his share of rabid supporters, he also gets a generous enough amount of hate.
But all the detractors and naysayers never seemed to bothered “The Notorious” and his team. For his long-time coach John Kavanagh, all the negativity is actually fuel for them to push forward and do better to silence doubters and critics.
“We’ve always done best when everybody is just mocking the idea of an unknown Dublin guy saying he’s going to take on the whole UFC roster and win the belt,” Kavanagh said on Monday’s MMA Hour episode (via MMA Fighting). “Those challenges seem to bind us even closer than we already are. I’m really seeing that spirit lit up in the team. It’s always there, but for whatever reason, because we’re being laughed at, because we’re being mocked, it’s making us even stronger.”
In eight weeks’ time, McGregor will be taking on the most lucrative fight of his career when he faces Floyd Mayweather in a 12-round boxing match at 154 pounds. And after seeing McGregor’s most recent sparring session, Kavanagh says his fighter will only need three more weeks of training to be fully ready for the fight.
As far as the game plan goes, they will be heavily banking on the fact that Mayweather, though considered to be the best boxer of all-time, is only human, and humans can make mistakes.
“Obviously we’re talking about one of boxing’s all-time greatest. But there’s also some things that there’s openings. As Dana White has posted a few clips, nobody is perfect. Everybody can get it. We’re just looking to make those openings happen more often than they usually do.”
Mayweather vs. McGregor will take place on August 26th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.