Kavanagh: There’s crazy rumors going around the team about what’s next

SBGi founder John Kavanagh appeared recently in the JRE MMA Show and talked about being Conor McGregor’s head coach. He started with MayMac, the most lucrative fight in combat sports history.

It was funny how it all came about, said Kavanagh, as transcribed by Jose Youngs for MMA Fighting. Shortly after [McGregor’s win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205] we were at a function and I pulled Conor aside and shook his hand and said ‘Alright, you’re done. Enjoy the rest of your life.’ He was shocked I was saying this. But I said ‘What else are you going to do? You’re a two-weight champion, you’ve gone out the other end of this meat grinder with no damage. You’re in a very small percentage and you’ve made plenty of money. Go off and enjoy yourself.’

Then a couple of months went past and the Mayweather fight started talking. I could understand because now his grandkids would be financially secure. So it made sense because it was a big payday. It didn’t make sense for any other reason. He enjoyed the competition side of it. No matter what you’re doing with Conor, it’s going to be a competition.

So when him and Floyd started having a back-and-forth and goes ‘let’s go to boxing and be the best boxer in the world.’ For me, on the outside, it made sense to do. Nothing else was really make sense at the time. It was going to be damaging. Boxing is a horrendous sport to prepare for. We’re going to be looking at one thing, punches to the head. But it’s so damaging. The only justification I could see is his grandkids would be financially set.

In that fight, it was just brilliant to watch Floyd and how he managed his energy. I think he threw one punch in round one and not much more in round two. It was such an amazing strategy. Then switching from the usual style of hands up and walking in. Conor did upload a lot on his forearms. It was very inefficient, which is the opposite of what I would describe Conor’s fighting style. This what a lot of punches. It was one of the few bits of advice I gave him in the corner that was of any use because I’m not a boxing guy.

There was a reason [Floyd] isn’t throwing anything. This is 12-rounds. There’s almost like there’s three parts to a fight. There’s rounds one through four, then there’s five to eight and there’s nine to 12. Floyd just worked that beautifully. It’s something we’d do a lot more if we’re to ever get another boxing fight and just recognize that’s there’s 12 rounds and pace yourself. [Conor] was sort of in the MMA mode of just big shots and just light the guy up. But Floyd is the best at not being lit up.

I knew no matter what happened, it was going to be a good fight. It wasn’t going in and you’re just like ‘Oh God, he looks terrible. He’s missing with every shot and he’s being made to look silly.’ It was a good fight. It was entertaining. No one in the crowd was saying it was ridiculous. No one was saying it was a waste of money. So it was an entertaining fight. It’s one of those things where I’ll be an older man and I’ll be talking about the time we went into the boxing world and fought Floyd.

Even on the night of the fight, I was scratching my head going ‘What am I doing here? That’s Floyd Mayweather and his dad over there.’ Of all of the boxers, I always preferred watching Floyd over anyone else because I love defense. Defense to me is the most intriguing part. It’s beautiful It’s so interesting to watch because his whole career was defensive-based. He never really took the shot, never really was damaged in the gym, never was damaged in the fights.

But yeah, when he was in the ring and we’re working in the corner, I’m just going ‘What the hell is Conor doing fighting Floyd Mayweather?’ It was just strange. Even in the beginning, I’m so used to Bruce Buffer, it was different guy and he hit the bell three times. I was like ‘Oh yeah, they do that in the Rocky movies. I remember that.’

So right until the end, it was still head scratching. Even at then end, Floyd came up and gave his little compliment of ‘Oh he’s got a hell of a shot and he’s tough as nails.’ It was a great experience, I wouldn’t change any of it.

There was talks of [a fight with only] leg kicks,. I will say Conor absolutely doesn’t want to do that. He wants to fight UFC rules or boxing rules. There is zero interest in a hybrid fight… He shot it down straight away. He’d fight him obviously in MMA rules. But Floyd is an intelligent guy, he’s not going to do that. He’s no fool.

And McGregor may not be done with prizefighting. Potential opponents include. former McGregor boxing sparring partner and lively mouth runner Paulie Malignaggi.

It is absolutely not out of the realms of possibilities, said Kavanagh. There are all sorts of crazy rumors going around the management team and the fight team about what might happen next. It could be boxing, it could be [Malignaggi], it could be Floyd. All sorts of names are being thrown about.

There is full footage of the sparring between McGregor and Malignaggi.

I think there is something being released on Netflix soon based around that fight and it’ll have all the rounds, said Kavanagh. We have the 12 rounds. As far as I’m aware, I just did an interview for it recently. I think it’s a three-part documentary that’s going to be on Netflix soon. So people will get to make up their own minds about it.

It turned out to be a great contest. And I’ll say contest because it wasn’t a spar, they were talking the whole time. They were talking the whole time, Paulie was talking to me, he was talking to the cameraman, he was almost better than Conor at it, it was great to watch. Everybody had a great night, and I think they both actually bizarrely enjoyed it. It’s like Conor and Nate. It’s Batman and The Joker, they both need each other. They hate each other, but they love each other.