John Kavanagh News

Natasha Hooper - August 2, 2019

Bellator MMA plans to develop new markets across the pond and believe Conor McGregor’s trainer, John Kavanagh will be instrumental in achieving this. The company’s CEO,Scott Coker joined the Viacom-owned business in 2014 and has been pushing hard to develop the brand. Part of his plan has been to capitalize in areas where he believes the UFC is flagging. Bellator wants to cultivate international talent and emerging markets that are currently neglected. Coker intends on investing in the MMA market in UK and Ireland as he believes this is a “business opportunity that UFC is not taking advantage of.”

Mike Pendleton - June 17, 2019

As the UFC’s lightweight championship picture continues to take shape, the road back to the Octagon for former featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor also seems to be taking shape. Back in March while doing a Q&A with fans McGregor said he feels he owes it to Nate Diaz to have a trilogy fight, but that idea was recently shut down by Diaz himself. When Conor McGregor does decide to return his head coach John Kavanagh has a preference as to what opponent he wants his fighter to face first, and it’s the trilogy fight with Nate Diaz. Speaking to Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Kavanagh spoke about his preference wanting Diaz as McGregor’s next opponent, saying it’s something he’s wanted for a while.

Mike Pendleton - June 3, 2019

It’s getting harder and harder to deny the legitimacy of the Drake Curse. When Drake meets an athlete, it seems like that athlete almost always loses immediately thereafter. One MMA coach is taking action to ensure his fighters go unaffected by the rapper’s witchcraft. After a photo of Drake and former boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua surfaced online, John Kavanagh, head coach of SBG Ireland and Conor McGregor, sent out a pretty fair warning to the artist.

Tom Taylor - May 15, 2019

Conor McGregor doesn’t currently have a fight booked, but if the former two-division UFC champ decides to return to the Octagon, his long-time coach John Kavanagh will coach and corner him. The other long-term members of McGregor’s inner circle will also apparently be there to pitch in. “I don’t think [me cornering Conor] is in doubt,” Kavanagh told the Irish Mirror of a McGregor comeback. “I’m sure I’ll be there, we talk almost daily.

Christopher Taylor - March 30, 2019

Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor shocked the mixed martial arts community earlier this week when he unexpectedly announced his retirement from MMA. The 30-year-old Irish superstar took to Twitter where he issued the following statement.

Cole Shelton - February 22, 2019

As the days go on, the question of when and who Conor McGregor will fight next continues. McGregor last fought at UFC 229 in October, where he took on current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for the belt. The fight marked McGregor’s return to the Octagon after a nearly two year hiatus.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

Shortly after Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor in the UFC 229 main event, he leapt over the side of the Octagon and attacked McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis. McGregor then attempted to chase Nurmagomedov, but was intercepted by a pair of the Russian champion’s training partners, including one who punched him in the back of the head from behind. In the wake of this event, McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh has stated that he doesn’t fault Khabib Nurmagomedov for losing his tempter and attacking Danis. That being said, Kavanagh recently divulged that he considers the actions of the fighters who attacked McGregor in the Octagon to be absolutely reprehensible.

Tom Taylor - October 28, 2018

Last night, in the co-main event of UFC Moncton, SBG Ireland staple and Conor McGregor training partner Artem Lobov came up short against former lightweight contender Michael Johnson. Johnson took the bout on short notice, replacing Lobov’s original opponent Zubaira Tukhugov, and missed weight for the bout. With this loss, Artem Lobov fell onto a three-fight skid. His overall record, meanwhile, now sits at 13-15-1. Given these less-than-stellar stats, some fans feel that Lobov has only been kept around by the UFC due to his closeness with Conor McGregor.

Tom Taylor - October 14, 2018

Conor McGregor was not able to reclaim the UFC lightweight title from his arch rival Khabib Nurmagomedov. Although McGregor had some success in his UFC 229 mega fight with Nurmagomedov, he just couldn’t keep up with his destructive foe. His head coach John Kavanagh believes that might have something to do with his lengthy absence from MMA competition.

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2018

Conor McGregor’s long awaited return to the Octagon, which headlined UFC 229 last Saturday night in Las Vegas, didn’t go the way he planned. Instead, he was pummelled by his opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov and ultimately submitted in the fourth round. That, of course, is not the way McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh envisioned the fight going. Kavanagh and his fellow coaches had worked out a detailed game plan for the Irish MMA star, but unfortunately things just didn’t work out.

Tom Taylor - October 9, 2018

Last Saturday night, in the main event of UFC 229, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor returned to the Octagon after two long years away, as he attempted to reclaim the UFC lightweight belt from undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Unfortunately for McGregor and his dedicated team, this mission didn’t go as planned. Instead, the Irish MMA star was soundly walloped en route to a fourth-round submission loss. Although he was able to steal a round from Nurmagomedov — something nobody has been able to do in a long time — it was not enough, and he’ll now have to return to the drawing board.

Thomas Taylor - October 8, 2018

On Saturday night, in the main event of the massive UFC 229 card, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov defended his title with a fourth-round submission win over former UFC lightweight and featherweight champ Conor McGregor. Unfortunately, however, that’s not where the violence ended. Moments after the fight came to a close, Khabib Nurmagomedov vaulted out of the cage and attacked Conor McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis, which sparked a massive brawl between his and McGregor’s teams. The chaos swirled inside and outside of the cage, and it was several minutes before it was completely under control.

Tom Taylor - September 20, 2018

At 26-0, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has never lost a fight. On October 6, in the main event of UFC 229, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor will attempt to change that. In the opinion of Conor McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh, defeating Khabib Nurmagomedov could begin with winning a single round. Nurmagomedov faces adversity so infrequently that the Irish MMA coach isn’t sure the Russian knows how to cope with it.

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2018

Renowned MMA coach John Kavanagh, who is the man behind stars like Conor McGregor, Gunnar Nelson, James Gallagher and Dillon Danis, has a bone to pick with the UFC. The Irish coach is currently in Las Vegas to corner his SBG Ireland fighters Richie Smullen and Brad Katona, the latter of whom is a finalist on the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter. Both fight at the Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale this Friday.

Tom Taylor - June 26, 2018

If Conor McGregor fights again — which is starting to sound more and more likely — it will probably be against reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. While McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh is all for this fight, he says he’d prefer to see McGregor engage in a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz first. “Nate Diaz is my favourite fight, by the way,” Kavanagh said in a Friday sit-down with MMA analyst Robin Black (transcribed Jim Edwards for MMANytt). “If I could pick a fight for the next one it would be that trilogy. I realise it’s not the fan favourite.

Tom Taylor - June 25, 2018

John Kavanagh, Conor McGregor’s head coach at SBG Ireland, is very confident the Irish superstar will return to the UFC’s Octagon this year — and most likely to a battle with new UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Kavanagh shared his confidence in a possible Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor fight during a conversation with Robin Black in Dublin.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2018

For weeks, there’s been mystery surrounding the main event of the UFC’s April 17 stop in London, England. Originally, the idea seemed to be that the retiring Michael Bisping would fight the last fight of his career in the main event. With Bisping now hesitating on fighting again at all, however, it appears the UFC is going a different direction. According to SBG head coach John Kavanagh, Icelandic welterweight Gunnar Nelson has been offered a scrap with surging British contender Darren Till, in a bout that has been targeted as the UFC London headliner. Per Kavanagh’s Tweet, he and Nelson are just waiting on Till and his team to accept the deal.

Russell Ess - December 18, 2017

It has been over a year since we last saw Conor McGregor fighting in the Octagon. “The Notorious” fought just once in 2017 in the second biggest pay-per-view event in history with his big money boxing match against Floyd Mayweather in August. With recently stating that he fancies fighting in mixed martial arts over boxing for his next competition, those following McGregor are anxiously awaiting to hear what will come next for the UFC lightweight champion.