If it were up to John Kavanagh, Conor McGregor would be deep in fight preparation right now.
The SBG Ireland head coach, who has guided McGregor’s career from his first day in a mixed martial arts gym to becoming the first-ever UFC simultaneous two-division champion, has been side-by-side with McGregor for many years throughout their respective journeys through the sport.
The partnership which yielded arguably the biggest combat sports star of his generations has been temporarily reduced in recent years, as McGregor underwent rehabilitation from a severe leg injury sustained in his most recent bout in the cage — while a minor foot injury also postponed his comeback scheduled for this past June at UFC 303 in Las Vegas.
But while the UFC have so far not confirmed a new date for McGregor’s proposed matchup with Michael Chandler, Kavanagh says all the pieces are now in place to hold a formal fight camp for the bout — and have been for some time.
“If the [McGregor vs Chandler] date came back and was confirmed for September, we’re already in heavy training, although we’re training remotely together at the moment,” Kavanagh said in quotes provided by Lucky Block.
“He’s stateside on I believe a Forged Irish Stout tour. He’s visiting a couple of breweries over there but we’re still sending each other training videos and training plans. He’s got some training partners over there and in the footage I’m getting back, he’s looking very sharp to me. If the date was now or in December, it would be a green light for me anyway.”
After Chandler, further possibilities remain for McGregor. The Dubliner has spoken fondly of perhaps pursuing a ‘BMF’ title’ as one of his multitude of options — but one hypothetical fight that has always been attractive to Kavanagh is the completions of McGregor’s trilogy with Nate Diaz.
“Against Diaz, we had a win and a loss,” Kavanagh said. “There was always kind of flirting with the idea of a trilogy and it never quite came to be. I actually thought that maybe the Chandler fight would happen and then the Diaz trilogy would be completed, but I don’t think Nate is in the UFC anymore so I’m not sure how plausible that is.
“But if we’re just talking hypothetically and we’re talking about a wishlist, it’d be to do that one a third time. Nate is a great fighter. I think the two of them just match up really well and it’s 1-1 so you kind of need to have the decider.”
