John Kavanagh open to lightweight tournament when UFC resumes

MMA coach John Kavanagh is interested in seeing the UFC hold a tournament for the lightweight title upon resumption if its fight schedule.

All upcoming UFC events are postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The UFC interim lightweight title bout between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, which was set to take place at UFC 249, was one of the fights affected by the postponements. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, two of the UFC’s biggest stars, also won’t be fighting anytime soon on account of the UFC schedule currently being on hiatus.

On Twitter, it was suggested that when the UFC schedule resumes later this year, the UFC re-book Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson and then book McGregor vs. Gaethje, as well. Responding to the suggestion of this tournament, McGregor’s coach Kavanagh said he’d like to see the semifinals in August and the finals on New Year’s Eve.

Semi finals in Aug. Finals NYE. pic.twitter.com/3lZdIwz08u

— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) April 9, 2020

A four-man tournament between Nurmagomdov, Ferguson, McGregor, and Gaethje makes a lot of sense as they are the top-four lightweights in the world right now (excluding Dustin Poirier, who is set to fight Dan Hooker at some point). A mini tournament between these four to determine the top lightweight in the world makes perfect sense.

It’s scary to think that we might not have the lightweight belt defended until later this summer, but that’s the reality of things. As much as White wants to hold the UFC events right now, the coronavirus pandemic is too much of an issue to hold any fights. At this point, we have no idea how long this is going to last. So while it may be surprising to see Kavanagh suggest this four-man tournament wouldn’t begin until August, that might be the most realistic outcome at this point, despite White remaining adamant the show must go on.

Do you like the idea John Kavanagh supports of a four-man lightweight tournament later this year?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 4/10/2020.