Coach: Why McGregor will fight in the Octagon again, and when

When McGregor entered the UFC, he was on welfare, won a $60,000 bonus, and was delighted nearly to the point of speechlessness. On August 26, he will make not 10 times that, not 100 times that, but more than 1,000 times that amount.

There is widespread speculation that with $70 million in his pocket from boxing Floyd Mayweather, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor might never fight in the Octagon again. However, during a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, his head coach John Kavanagh said that money is not what drives Notorious.

I don’t see any reason why he would not, said Kavanagh, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. Certainly money would not be the reason why he would not do MMA again. He has said very clearly to me, ‘Get ready, we’re back in the cage in December.’ I hope someone out there has sparked the interest in him to make him excited about that.”

It’s not money that’s motivating him anymore. He could very easily make similar money from doing some movies or doing endorsements. It’s the challenge. That’s why he’s in the gym laughing every day. If he left the gym now and stopped fighting, what would he do with his free time? You can only sit in one car at a time, you can only have one meal at a time. Eventually, you want to do something that’s enjoyable to you. And that would be Conor drifting back into the gym. It’s what’s enjoyable to him.

The motivation for this fight was not money, though of course it’s nice to be well paid for what you do. It was the challenge. And to be told again it’s impossible to do what he’s saying clearly what he is about to do.

Next fights for McGregor could include challenging for the welterweight belt and becoming the first UFC fighter to win belts in three divisions, defending his lightweight belt against Khabib Nurmagomedov in Russia, and a trilogy with Nate Diaz. First, of course, he has a little business on August 26 with the greatest defensive boxer in history.