Having spent more three and a half years in the UFC and won the world title at featherweight, Conor McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh says that his student is only now fighting in his correct weight class.

McGregor will make his debut at 155 pounds when he challenges Eddie Alvarez for the promotion’s lightweight title next Saturday night in New York but, as Kavanagh suggests, this is the division that McGregor should have been fighting in all along.

McGregor’s final Cage Warriors appearance before inking a deal with the UFC in early 2013 was a lightweight title bout with Ivan Buchinger – a fight where a thunderous left hand from McGregor earned him a first round victory and a second world title, a feat he intends to repeat next Saturday.

“His last fight before going into the UFC was at 155 pounds and, for me, that was the ideal weight”, Kavanagh said in an interview with The42.ie.

“But I guess the fights that had influenced [matchmaker] Sean Shelby’s decision to reach out were the 145 fights. Sean looks after the 145 and below divisions so he nabbed him for 145, so we just rolled with it.”

Check out the full interview below.