John Kavanagh has always been a believer in what Conor McGregor can do.
That’s why he was far from surprised when McGregor knocked out Eddie Alvarez in the second round at UFC 205 to be…
John Kavanagh has always been a believer in what Conor McGregor can do.
That’s why he was far from surprised when McGregor knocked out Eddie Alvarez in the second round at UFC 205 to become both lightweight and featherweight champion.
Kavanagh, in fact, was just four seconds off being spot-on for a pre-fight prediction:
I said the 8th minute. I was off by 4 seconds. Seriously though, you'll never see a fighter do this again. I hope you took it all in ? pic.twitter.com/KASmzZdLh6
It’s well known that Conor McGregor’s initial path to becoming a simultaneous two-weight UFC champion was against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196. However, before McGregor could fight him, dos Anjos pulled out of the fight due to a foot injury, which led to McGregor fighting Nate Diaz at the event. Now, the current UFC
It’s well known that Conor McGregor’s initial path to becoming a simultaneous two-weight UFC champion was against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196. However, before McGregor could fight him, dos Anjos pulled out of the fight due to a foot injury, which led to McGregor fighting Nate Diaz at the event.
Now, the current UFC featherweight champion will be fighting current UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez this weekend at UFC 205, where he will attempt to fulfill his goal of being a two division UFC champion. McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh recently spoke with MMAJunkie to promote the fight and commented on the incidents that have led up to UFC 205.
According to Kavanagh, McGregor fighting Alvarez is actually the easier option to achieving their objective.
“I think Alvarez is a little bit more straightforward. Dos Anjos obviously has a world-class submission game on the ground,” Kavanagh said. “Alvarez is more basic on the ground. He’s just going to hold you there and throw some shots, whereas dos Anjos has very slick jiu-jitsu. In other respects, they’re both quite similar in that they’re both physically similar, and similar style. A couple punches, then try to get a takedown. But I think Eddie is slightly the easier fight because he’s orthodox and doesn’t have quite the submission game as dos Anjos.
While McGregor had previously predicted a first round stoppage against Alvarez at the event, Kavanagh thinks that it could go into the second round and then McGregor will finish him.
“Conor has range, he can hold him on the outside and then if Eddie does close the distance, yes, he’s probably going to have a small weight advantage, but not the same weight advantage as Nate did,” Kavanagh said. “But this is going to be a range war, and Eddie’s losing that one. I can see a similar fight to (Chad) Mendes. I think Eddie will use up a lot of energy in Round 1 trying to pin Conor to the fence. I think late in Round 2, the left hand will land, and that will be all she wrote.”
UFC 205 will take place on Saturday, November 12, 2016, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. This event will be the first UFC event hosted in New York City and the first UFC event hosted in the State of New York since 1995. The main card airs on PPV at 10 p.m. ET and the prelims air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and UFC Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Much is being made of the expected announcement from UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor after his upcoming meeting with Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in just two weeks time, with speculation ranging from the Irishman and his longtime girlfriend are expecting a child, to the announcement of his retirement from mixed martial arts (MMA) altogether.
Much is being made of the expected announcement from UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor after his upcoming meeting with Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in just two weeks time, with speculation ranging from the Irishman and his longtime girlfriend are expecting a child, to the announcement of his retirement from mixed martial arts (MMA) altogether.
McGregor himself has said to ‘stay tuned’ for the announcement, and has yet to lead to any hints regarding to what it may be. McGregor’s longtime head-coach John Kavanagh, however, was recently interviewed by The 42 this week and stated that ‘The Notorious One’s’ announcement will be a positive one:
“I’ll be honest I’ve heard him say a few different things and they’re all positive. I think whatever way he goes with this, it’s only positive. I don’t know what’s going to happen, like with Conor look at the last fight he can say ‘Ah, alright let the UFC — let the divisions mature, and in six months’ time I’ll see what it’s like.’ Then 24 hours later he’s like ‘let’s do a work out’. Conor has such a hyperactive mind and a hyperactive body, you never know what’s going to happen with him but for sure it’s a positive announcement. I know people are going to enjoy what he has to say.”
Whatever McGregor’s announcement ends up being when it is all said and done come fight night in ‘The Big Apple’, you can bet your bottom dollar that fight fans will be listening to the 145-pound champ’s post-fight interview with Joe Rogan very intently.
McGregor will attempt to become the first man in UFC history to be a dual-weight champion, when he takes on Alvarez for the lightweight title in the main event of UFC 205 live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the Madison Square Garden arena in New York City on November 12, 2016.
You can check out Kavanagh’s interview with The 42 here:
On This Day Five Years Ago… [ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCTOBER 10, 2016, 2:03 PM] Reports started circulating Monday that Conor McGregor was knocked out during a sparring session ahead of his UFC 205 lightweight fight with Eddie Alvarez. John Kavanagh, the head coach for McGregor, addressed the rumors on social media. Kavanagh also added a few […]
Reports started circulating Monday that Conor McGregor was knocked out during a sparring session ahead of his UFC 205 lightweight fight with Eddie Alvarez.
John Kavanagh, the head coach for McGregor, addressed the rumors on social media. Kavanagh also added a few more replies, saying “because I’m trying to teach you how to think critically. Otherwise my time wasted on the next silly rumor and the one after that” when asked why he wouldn’t directly address the claims.
Free tip – Just because its on the Internet doesn't mean its true
Alvarez had his own fun with the rumors, as well, as he took to his official Twitter page to share the following comment regarding the McGregor KO rumor:
I heard of realistic fight simulation training but this is Next level shit !!! Lmao … This happened to me before too , rest up Be safe
UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor takes place on Saturday, November 12, 2016 from the world-famous Madison Square Garden arena in New York City. Join us here at MMANews.com on 11/12 for live coverage of the UFC 205 pay-per-view.
UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has impacted the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) in the biggest way since making his UFC debut with a thunderous first round knockout of Marcus Brimage on UFC on Fuel TV 9 in 2013. The heavy-handed 145-pound Irishman has dominated the featherweight division with all but one of his
UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has impacted the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) in the biggest way since making his UFC debut with a thunderous first round knockout of Marcus Brimage on UFC on Fuel TV 9 in 2013.
The heavy-handed 145-pound Irishman has dominated the featherweight division with all but one of his victories in the weight class coming by way of knockout.
‘The Notorious One’s’ only loss under the promotion’s banner came at the hands of Stockton Native Nate Diaz at UFC 196 via round two submission, after accepting the late-notice replacement opponent for lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos who pulled out of his scheduled 155-pound title contest with McGregor citing an injury.
Now McGregor is coming hot off a spectacular 25-minute contest in the main event of UFC 202 this past Saturday (August 20, 2016), in which he avenged his loss to Diaz via majority decision.
McGregor’s SBG Ireland head-coach John Kavanagh recently held a Q&A on Twitter in which a fan asked him when his star pupil planned on legitimately retiring, after the featherweight king prematurely announced his retirement from the sport after being removed from the blockbuster UFC 200 card due to his disagreement over media obligations with UFC President Dana White.
Kavanagh responded with a shockingly short answer of labeling a 2-3 year expiration date on the remaining lifespan of McGregor’s MMA career:
Just days after his pupil’s major win over rival Nate Diaz at UFC 202, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s head-coach John Kavanagh joined The MMA Hour today (August 22, 2016) to discuss the future plans for ‘The Notorious One’. When asked if the featherweight champion would compete at welterweight again, Kavanagh was quick to dismiss
Just days after his pupil’s major win over rival Nate Diaz at UFC 202, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s head-coach John Kavanagh joined The MMA Hour today (August 22, 2016) to discuss the future plans for ‘The Notorious One’.
When asked if the featherweight champion would compete at welterweight again, Kavanagh was quick to dismiss a return to 170 pounds and instead eyed a new home for McGregor in the UFC’s lightweight division:
“The hell with that (chuckles). When Dana came backstage the first thing he said is ‘we have weight classes for a reason’. He’s perfect for 55. It’s a very, very easy weight cut for 55.
His power is there, we got to see a little bit of grappling in that fight, still not seen it all yet there is still a lot more to come. I would have liked to see them on the ground more in the fight, I guess just for my selfish self, because we done a lot and of course Dillon was a great help with that.
So I would have liked to see some exchanges there. But overall I’ll give em a 9.5.”
When asked on his personal opinion for what is next for the Irish phenom Kavanagh admits he leaves the decision making process up to his student, however, he will be campaigning for a shot at the 155-pound throne:
“Me personally, I will be pushing for 55. That’s just my big brother opinion, I’d like to see him at 55 I remember that Buchinger–he looked like a tank to me. I just think he was designed to be a lightweight.”
UFC President Dana White has recently gone on record stating that if McGregor fails to return to 145 to defend his title in his next bout, he will be stripped of the title as a result.
Kavanagh says he doesn’t see the point in returning to the 145-pound weight class, as he does not believe any of it’s combatants can truly challenge his protege:
“I really don’t see the point in it, with all do respect to the 145 guys, especially after that fight with Nate. What are they going to do? What’s anyone going to do to him? I just think anyone he faces at that weight class–it’s almost like he’s cheating.
“He can make the weight, don’t get me wrong on that, he might do it just to spite me. We have Lockhart on board, the 45 he made last December was the easiest one he’s ever done, so it’s definitely in him to do it. But he’s just running through people at that weight class, it would have been a nice build up–I had a little vision in my head, him and Edgar in New York maybe in November.
“Unfortunately those guys didn’t keep up they’re end of the bargain. They had to go out there and prove that they deserved it, prove that they had improved, and go out there and beat Aldo and they didn’t.
“The fight was even more one-sided that their first contest. I guess Aldo had learned from the last time.”
If McGregor does decide to make the move to lightweight next, Kavanagh would rather see ‘Notorious’ challenge for the division’s title rather than an immediate trilogy bout with Diaz, possibly setting up a massive 155-pound title defense in Dublin against the Stockton Native:
“I’d think it would be nice for him to be the champion, get the belt at 55, and then defend it against Nate. I think that would be a pretty amazing fight, maybe in Croke Park in Dublin. I’ll push for that, how cool would that be huh? We were in they’re enemy territory so let them come over to us this time.”
With UFC 205 live from Madison Square Garden in New York City looming this upcoming November, Kavanagh is confident McGregor would be prepared to fight on the massive event just three months after the conclusion of his 25-minute war with Diaz, but does believe it is a bit too soon as well:
“He could definitely do it,” Kavanagh said. “It is soon, Conor has so much going on in his life. With his many many businesses that he’s running at this stage, I know he puts a lot of them on hold for that last–everything has been on hold for the last 20 weeks.
“So I know he has a lot of catching up to do in his other interests, so it probably is too early. Although he does other businesses, I know what his interest really is in and it’s fighting.
“If there is a crazy offer and it made sense, he would again put them on hold and get ready for it. But it probably is a little bit soon.”
Following UFC 202 during his post-fight presser McGregor claimed that ‘sh** will hit the fan’ regarding what is next for his combat career, and Kavanagh noted that nothing is set in stone but as for now it is best to just ‘sit back and exhale’ before making any decisions:
“I can tell you that nothing is set in stone. There is no black and white ‘this is set, and then we’ll do this, and then this’. I think Floyd Tweeted ‘lets do business’ after the fight so there’s that. He has a lot going on, he has a busy busy head on him.
“That’s why I think the next couple of weeks he probably has to put some time and effort into his other interest and let everything build up. That fight–I sear I have a little bit more grey hairs from that 25-minutes.
“I think as a community we all need to take a deep breathe and exhale, and let everything carry on for the next couple of months, because that was a really incredible build up and to go straight from that to Alvarez or whoever– I don’t know it just seems rushed or something. Lets sit back and exhale,” Kavanagh said.
“He could definitely do it,” Kavanagh said. “It is soon, Conor has so much going on in his life. With his many many businesses that he’s running at this stage, I know he puts a lot of them on hold for that last–everything has been on hold for the last 20 weeks.