Midnight Mania! McGregor’s Coach Wants to Get Back to ‘Doing The Positive Things’

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

McGregor’s old head coach, John Kavanagh, was on Ireland’s ‘Late Late Show’, and discussed the future of ‘The Notorious’. He revealed that he had recently seen Conor for the first time in months.

“He’s just back from the States; he was in Miami for the last few months training,” Kavanagh told Ryan Tubridy on Friday’s The Late Late Show.

“I had a small amateur show on Friday night and he showed up. I didn’t even know he was going to be there, he showed up and that was the first time I’d seen him in a while. There had been a couple of texts exchanged back and forth and I’m hoping to sit down next week and see what the plan is.”

“[It had been] months [since I saw him],” he clarified. “He had been in Miami taking a break, but also training. Physically, I hadn’t seen him in quite a while.”

As far as McGregor’s ‘retirement’, Kavanagh is as much in the dark as anyone.

“You know as much as I do,” he replied when asked about McGregor’s short-lived retirement. “It’s funny, when he won the second world title, as a coach it’s almost like a nightmare because he achieved everything he set out to do; he won the world titles, he broke every meaningful record in the UFC, he made enough money to retire a few times over,” said Kavanagh.

“Training MMA for fitness or recreation is fun, but training for professional fighting is very tough, it’s very tough on the body. You’re losing all the desire to do those things because it’s either about winning titles or making money, he done those, so what was going to keep motivating him, to keep putting him through that grind?”

He did say he thinks McGregor has managed to find a renewed passion for the sport despite that.

“I think there has been a resurgence in his passion and his love and I think if the right contest comes along, something that’s very interesting to him, a good challenge, something that will get the crowd going…I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t fight again…as soon as…it could be even the summer,” Kavanagh said.

Kavanagh was optimistic that he would be in McGregor’s corner if and when he fights again — ‘I certainly hope so’ — but he was also cognizant of the negative impact of McGregor’s recent behavior. MMA is not so well established in Ireland, and is still vulnerable to the perceptions that it’s biggest name seems to be constantly getting himself into trouble.

“I do [care], I absolutely do,” he said. “[I care about] the perception of the sport; it’s been around before Conor and it’ll be around after he’s finished with it. I do think, myself and everyone in Ireland that’s involved in MMA, we’re hugely thankful for what Conor has done. He shun a huge light on what we did…but he has made mistakes that I absolutely don’t condone. I know he regrets them, he’s paid for them, he’s trying to learn from them and he’s trying to move on.

“I hope we go back to doing the positive things; the goal setting, the work ethic, going for something that seems impossible. Those are the qualities I love in Conor, that I love talking about when I’m in the kids’ classes…I’m conscious of the fact that I need to set a good example for them and I know Conor does as well. That’s what I want to get back to…the many, many positive qualities that he has.”

---

Insomnia

It’s safe to say Israel Adesanya is on Jon Jones’ radar.

Sodiq Yusuff has a valid point. Most of the benefit of PEDs comes from training with them.

This was pretty

This is quite something- this police officer walks coolly through a machete swing to land a judo throw. Who knows if it is real, but it is impressive.

TJ Dillashaw apologizes to everyone except his opponents

What seems like a very high Justin Gaethje explains to Brendan Schaub that there is a very calculated method behind his madness.

This could potentially be interesting.

However, it might not be as definitive as some would hope, because the detection window for EPO is apparently small.

Tony Ferguson is back to his crazy training

This will revolutionize the sport.

---

Random Land

This little bird is adorable

Sleep well, Maniacs! A better tomorrow is always possible. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality