John Kavanagh Reacts To Conor McGregor Being Stripped Of Title

Conor McGregor hasn’t yet commented on the UFC stripping him of his featherweight title, but his longtime coach John Kavanagh recently did and it’s safe to say that Kavanagh is ‘disappointed’ in the way things unfolded: “It was more the UFC (who decided),” Kavanagh said in an appearance at the Red FM breakfast show. “For

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Conor McGregor hasn’t yet commented on the UFC stripping him of his featherweight title, but his longtime coach John Kavanagh recently did and it’s safe to say that Kavanagh is ‘disappointed’ in the way things unfolded:

“It was more the UFC (who decided),” Kavanagh said in an appearance at the Red FM breakfast show. “For me personally, I was very disappointed with how they went about doing it.”

McGregor, who most recently won the lightweight title at Nov. 12’s UFC 205, hadn’t defended the 145-pound title since winning it last December, but that may not have been the main reason behind the UFC’s decision.

Rather, the promotion needed a new main event for Dec. 10’s UFC 206 after light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier was forced to withdraw from his scheduled rematch with Anthony Johnson. The UFC then elected to bump the co-main event, a featherweight bout between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis, up and make it for the interim title, while promoting Jose Aldo to undisputed champion.

“It was a very messy set of circumstances which led to doing it,” Kavanagh said. “They lost a main event and then they haphazardly threw together a new main event.”

“They felt they had to make this for a title in order for it to sell so they brought in another interim title that Jose Aldo already has and then bumped Jose Aldo up to the current undisputed champion. Which just seems ridiculous to me.”

It was Aldo, after all, that McGregor brutally knocked out in just 13 seconds last December, and Kavanagh simply feels as if the UFC was ‘shortsighted’:

“Conor has only been 11 months since he won that title,” he said. “There have been many, many examples of fighters waiting 15 months, 18 months before defending it. He’s 11 months and they stripped him of it.”

“I thought it was very shortsighted by the UFC how they went about doing it.”

Do you agree with Kavanagh’s comments?

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Coach: Conor McGregor Beating Tyron Woodley Is ‘Doable’

Conor McGregor’s fighting future is currently a cloudy mess. After adding the UFC lightweight title to his collection that already includes the UFC featherweight title at Nov. 12’s UFC 205, McGregor made it clear that he had a plethora of options waiting for him, although it was also said that he likely wouldn’t fight until

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Conor McGregor’s fighting future is currently a cloudy mess.

After adding the UFC lightweight title to his collection that already includes the UFC featherweight title at Nov. 12’s UFC 205, McGregor made it clear that he had a plethora of options waiting for him, although it was also said that he likely wouldn’t fight until the spring due to the fact that he has a baby on the way.

On option that the brash Irishman discussed was the possibility of jumping up to welterweight and fighting 170-pound champion Tyron Woodley in hopes of winning a third title in a third different wait class.

Many have laughed McGregor’s talk of this possibility off, but his longtime coach John Kavanagh doesn’t agree with what the masses are saying:

“I don’t see why not,” Kavanagh said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t know. Maybe it won’t happen. We’ve got so many irons in the fire at this stage. But I don’t see what other people are saying, ‘There’s no way Conor can touch this guy.’ There is. No one is perfect. There’s openings there. Of course, he’s a bigger man, he’s got more power and you’ve gotta be super careful. But Conor trains with big guys like this. I see him do amazing things in the gym all the time.”

The two fighters appeared to have some tension between them during the lead-up to UFC 205 where Woodley also fought. In fact, “The Chosen One” said after the event that he would sign on to face the “Notorious” one.

Woodley would undoubtedly be the bigger man if the the bout were to actually materialize, but Kavanagh feels as if McGregor beating the 170-pound champion is very ‘doable’:

“He’s not enormous,” the coach said. “He’s not some Goliath man. He’s a little bit bigger. Conor would have reach on him, he would have technique on him in the striking, for sure. He’d have to of course deal with that power. … I certainly don’t in my head go, ‘Oh my God, no. We couldn’t possibly beat him.’ It’s a doable fight.”

Do you share Kavanagh’s view?

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Video: Conor McGregor’s Coach On Potential Tyron Woodley Fight: “Maybe It Won’t Happen”

https://youtu.be/giraz1DNXOY

John Kavanagh, trainer of current two-division UFC World Champion Conor McGregor gave his take on a potential showdown of champions against the man “The Notorious” had a brief encounter with, leading to an immediate war …

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https://youtu.be/giraz1DNXOY

John Kavanagh, trainer of current two-division UFC World Champion Conor McGregor gave his take on a potential showdown of champions against the man “The Notorious” had a brief encounter with, leading to an immediate war of words on social media and later, a second face-to-face near-miss backstage at Madison Square Garden — Tyron Woodley.

Following their pair of encounters in New York and their performances at the debut event in the state earlier this month, a lot of fans have spoken about the possibility of the two fighting and the conclusion drawn by the majority is that “The Chosen One” would be just too big for “The Notorious” to overcome. To go one step further, many have even suggested Woodley would have an easy time handling McGregor.

Kavanagh doesn’t agree.

“I don’t see why not,” said the SBG Ireland head coach on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani” at MMAFighting.com. “I don’t know, maybe it won’t happen. We’ve got so many irons in the fire at this stage.”

Regarding the perspective amongst fans and media members who feel the fight would be a mismatch in favor of the larger UFC Welterweight Champion, Kavanagh said he doesn’t see what they do when envisioning the matchup. In fact, he pointed out the fact that he has personally seen the Irish mega-star handle bigger guys in the gym, while admitting that they would still need to be “super careful” of Woodley’s power.

“There’s no way Conor can touch this guy,” Kavanagh said, referencing some of the comments he has heard from those who feel Woodley is the easy favorite in the potential dream bout. “There is [a way], no one is perfect. There’s openings there.”

Kavanagh continued, “Of course, he’s a bigger man, he’s got more power and you’ve gotta be super careful, but Conor trains with big guys like this. I see him do amazing things in the gym all the time.”

Regarding the timeline for a potential showdown of three of UFC’s ten current overall champions, it would be late-2017 at the earliest, if the UFC and the parties involved all go that direction.

In the case of McGregor, he is currently on a hiatus from the fight game to be with his better-half while the couple awaits the birth of their first child due in May.

In Woodley’s case, he is reportedly scheduled to duke it out with dangerous striker Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in an immediate rematch of their UFC 205 “Fight of the Night” at UFC pay-per-view event in February of 2017.

Could Conor McGregor actually pull off winning a world title in a third UFC weight class? Considering all that he has accomplished already, you can’t exactly say with certainy that he couldn’t. Hopefully one day we find out.

Kavanagh: Nate Diaz Is The Second-Best Lightweight Fighter

Following his big win at UF 205 this past Saturday night, Conor McGregor has options regarding his next opponent. Tyron Woodley, Jose Aldo, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov could be the next guy in line as McGregor’s opponent. McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, spoke with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour about what’s

The post Kavanagh: Nate Diaz Is The Second-Best Lightweight Fighter appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Following his big win at UF 205 this past Saturday night, Conor McGregor has options regarding his next opponent. Tyron Woodley, Jose Aldo, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov could be the next guy in line as McGregor’s opponent. McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, spoke with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour about what’s next for the two-division champion.

According to Kavanagh, there is one name that stands out above all the others, and that is Nate Diaz, who beat McGregor at UFC 196.

“I understand Khabib is the No. 1 contender and it’s probably gonna be him if that’s how the company works,” Kavanagh said. “But for me, interest wise, the Nate fight would interest me greater because of that. If it’s Tony, if it’s Khabib, great. They’re both fantastic fighters.”

Kavanagh thinks that the second-best featherweight fighter on the UFC roster currently is Max Holloway who has been blitzing through the division and is on a lengthy winning streak.

“I think the second-best 145er is Max Holloway,” Kavanagh said. “That’s my opinion. And I think the second-best 155er is Nate Diaz. I think Nate would beat either Tony or Khabib. I think he really turned the corner with the Michael Johnson fight. I think we saw a new version of him. And then he looked fantastic in both Conor fights.”

While Diaz does hold a win over McGregor, McGregor earned a victory in their rematch at UFC 202 this past August. After UFC 202, many people were calling for a third fight. That was before McGregor held two belts at once, so it appears that the trilogy fight will have to wait.

“I do think Nate would, not comfortably, but [he would] be quite a bit better than either of them,” Kavanagh said, referring to Nurmagomedov and Ferguson. “If I had the magic buttons to press as a fan, [McGregor vs. Diaz 3 is] the fight that would interest me the most.”

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McGregor’s Coach Says He Prefers Diaz Trilogy Bout Over Nurmagomedov Or Ferguson

conor-mcgregor-kavanagh

SBG Ireland coach John Kavanagh appeared as a guest on Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com and revealed who he would like to see his biggest star pupil, “The Notorious” Conor McGregor, to fight next.

Kavanagh spoke with Helwani about McGregor’s history-making performance at UFC 205 and then explained that he feels Max Holloway is the number one fighter in his mind at 145 pounds, in terms of talent not rankings, and that the same can be said for Nate Diaz in the 155-pound division.

While aware that either Khabib Nurmagomedov or Tony Ferguson is likely next in line for a shot at McGregor’s newly acquired UFC Lightweight Championship, but he would personally prefer to see McGregor-Diaz finish the score on their rivalry with a rubber match.

Kavanagh added that he feels if Diaz were to fight Nurmagomedov or Ferguson, he would favor the Stockton, California native to defeat them both, pointing out that he feels Diaz truly turned a corner with his talent in the performance he put on against Michael Johnson.

Below is what SBG Ireland coach John Kavanagh had to say on Monday about his preference for Conor McGregor’s next opponent and his thoughts on some of the contenders that are in the mix.

“Now, I’m going to give you my full opinion. I think the second best 145er is Max Holloway, in my opinion. And I think the second best 155er is Nate Diaz,” Kavanagh explained. “That’s my opinion. I think Nate would beat either Tony or Khabib. I think he really turned a corner with the Michael Johnson fight. I think we saw a new version of him. I think he looked fantastic in both Conor’s fights. Now, I understand Khabib is the number one contender and it’s probably gonna be him if that’s how the company works but for me, interest wise, the Nate fight would interest me greater because of that. If it’s Tony, if it’s Khabib, great. They are two fantastic fighters.”

Check out Kavanagh’s appearance on Helwani’s “The MMA Hour” by clicking here.

H/T to BloodyElbow.com for transcribing the above John Kavanagh quotes from “The MMA Hour.”

conor-mcgregor-kavanagh

SBG Ireland coach John Kavanagh appeared as a guest on Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com and revealed who he would like to see his biggest star pupil, “The Notorious” Conor McGregor, to fight next.

Kavanagh spoke with Helwani about McGregor’s history-making performance at UFC 205 and then explained that he feels Max Holloway is the number one fighter in his mind at 145 pounds, in terms of talent not rankings, and that the same can be said for Nate Diaz in the 155-pound division.

While aware that either Khabib Nurmagomedov or Tony Ferguson is likely next in line for a shot at McGregor’s newly acquired UFC Lightweight Championship, but he would personally prefer to see McGregor-Diaz finish the score on their rivalry with a rubber match.

Kavanagh added that he feels if Diaz were to fight Nurmagomedov or Ferguson, he would favor the Stockton, California native to defeat them both, pointing out that he feels Diaz truly turned a corner with his talent in the performance he put on against Michael Johnson.

Below is what SBG Ireland coach John Kavanagh had to say on Monday about his preference for Conor McGregor’s next opponent and his thoughts on some of the contenders that are in the mix.

“Now, I’m going to give you my full opinion. I think the second best 145er is Max Holloway, in my opinion. And I think the second best 155er is Nate Diaz,” Kavanagh explained. “That’s my opinion. I think Nate would beat either Tony or Khabib. I think he really turned a corner with the Michael Johnson fight. I think we saw a new version of him. I think he looked fantastic in both Conor’s fights. Now, I understand Khabib is the number one contender and it’s probably gonna be him if that’s how the company works but for me, interest wise, the Nate fight would interest me greater because of that. If it’s Tony, if it’s Khabib, great. They are two fantastic fighters.”

Check out Kavanagh’s appearance on Helwani’s “The MMA Hour” by clicking here.

H/T to BloodyElbow.com for transcribing the above John Kavanagh quotes from “The MMA Hour.”

Coach: Alvarez Had To Bring A Hell Of A Lot More

Conor McGregor made history this past weekend (Nov. 12, 2016) at UFC 205 when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez in the second round of their main event bout to become the first fighter in promotional history to simultaneously hold two titles at one time. The “Notorious” one was dominant, but that’s not because Alvarez took

The post Coach: Alvarez Had To Bring A Hell Of A Lot More appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Conor McGregor made history this past weekend (Nov. 12, 2016) at UFC 205 when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez in the second round of their main event bout to become the first fighter in promotional history to simultaneously hold two titles at one time. The “Notorious” one was dominant, but that’s not because Alvarez took him lightly, at least according to McGregor’s longtime head coach John Kavanagh:

“I think it’s more talk,” he said on “The MMA Hour” earlier this afternoon. “I think there is no doubt these guys did whatever they could in training — they absolutely killed themselves. You see Eddie with a black eye eight days out, that’s sparring hard, so the work was put in. I just think it’s a major surprise to them when the first shot lands.”

Despite the work Kavanagh assumes Alvarez put in, he did admit that he simply felt as if the contest was a ‘mismatch’ in terms of the two fighters skill sets:

“To be honest, and I was thinking about how I was going to say this because I know it will be taken out of context, and it’s absolutely no comment on Eddie’s personality as a person — he seems like a great guy, solid fighter. But, if we are just looking at skill sets, going in — and it was a reason I was able to take it all in during the week — but this was a massive mismatch,” declared Kavanagh.

“Again, that’s nothing against him as a person, I’m just saying skills-wise. I really felt this would look worse than the (Marcus) Brimage fight. I knew it’d be that style of fight that he would always be too late, always getting hit and fall apart. I did think his toughness would take him into the second round. But, skills-wise, I just thought it was a massive mismatch. And I will humbly offer the evidence of the fight that it warranted that. All of our people back home, all of our sparring partners we all saw this thinking, ‘This is going to be a bad fight. This is going to look terrible.’”

At the end of the day, Kavanagh simply felt as if McGregor was too comfortable with Alvarez’s style as opposed to the Irishman’s past opponent, Nate Diaz, who offered different challenges:

“Where as Nate (Diaz) was so interesting because style and size wise. It wasn’t a massive size difference, but, it was enough to make it interesting and enough to offer new problems. But, this one, unorthodox, head down kind of brawler with a simple style of wrestling, not very complicated. I just felt like you have to bring a hell of lot more than that to the plate to trouble what I think is the best fighter on the planet right now.”

Do you agree with the head trainer’s assessment of his star pupil’s performance?

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