Conor McGregor is back on the road to recovery after his ill-fated comeback this summer.
It was gone in 69 seconds. All this happened for McGregor’s highly anticipated rematch against Max Holloway to end UFC 329 in July. That two-division UFC contender started the fight with a jumping kick, then awkwardly ended up tearing his ACL. From that point, the suspect McGregor was finished shortly after.
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On Tuesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show”, McGregor’s longest-serving coach in SBG Ireland, John Kavanagh, considered the moment and night the fighter succumbed to an injury.
“Conor has always liked to get the first move down in a fight. He’s done that for a number of fights, whether it’s starting with a flying knee, let’s say against the Cowboys. [Donald Cerrone]but he is always the first mover of his kind to go to fight,” said Kavanagh, crowned.
“He had come to kick with that one, and he’d done it a thousand times. He did a lot of sparing this fight, and he scattered everything with that move, and it always went really well, whether it was a good shot that got off the ship or the opponent was thrown off.” Then he rises into battle and begins to do his thing.
“So in this one, I’m usually back to my corner when the fights are kind of already started. And he’s like I’m putting a bucket like I’m waiting and waiting, already falling from there,” Kavanagh continued. “I don’t know what happened. I must have slipped or something, but it was obvious when I got up that something went terribly wrong. Then I think it was another slip, and that was basically it.”
Kavanagh, 49, has been by McGregor’s side for almost every moment of the Irish MMA career. While he has seen wins and losses in the past, McGregor’s last fight only further highlighted the nature of the sport, whether positive or negative.
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“I’ve always talked about MMA, it’s the highs and the lows,” Kavanagh said. “That was definitely one of those moments where I just couldn’t believe it. How much had gone into that preparation and the fight – basically six months of all our lives were on hold between him training in Dublin and living in the gym and me going to his house. So we all went out twice a day to all the States.
“He entered at 1000%, and walking in it, because there are conspiracy theorists, no injury, no injury. I ask you to try and put on the runners with a hundred million people watching you. You may stumble a bit, but no injury at all.”
The loss marked McGregor’s first fight in five years. He suffered a serious setback in his previous fight, breaking his leg at the end of round 1 of Dustin Poirier’s grueling trilogy fight at UFC 264 in July 2021.
The leg-break was a unique injury that few fighters ever successfully returned from competing at the same level. Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman are two common examples, both of whom slipped from top contender or champion status and ultimately failed to complete winning streaks in the UFC cage.
Conor McGregor hasn’t won a fight since 2020.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
Finally, Kavanagh says McGregor has been recovering for more than three months since his UFC 329 injury. But his fight with Holloway is cursed at this point, considering how McGregor first entered in 2013, when he scored a unanimous decision over the young Holloway, but blew out another knee in the process.
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“Immediately he said about, “What good surgery is good? What’s the recovery time?” Kavanagh said of McGregor’s slowness.
“I’m thinking of doing the ACL for his fight, he did this in the past nine months, coming back to the Octagon from injury. I also felt it was strange that in the first fight, Holloway managed to do his ACL in his right leg. Then in the second fight he does the ACL in his left leg. So maybe it’s just that Holloway is away. His knee is bad.”
McGregor made few public comments in the aftermath of UFC 329, especially in the early days following. Adamantus is the one who will be making another UFC comeback fight, and he is still hoping to get back on track after not being handed a knockout victory against Donald Cerrone in January 2020.
Kavanagh refuses to doubt McGregor after going on their journey together. To further push his prospects, it wouldn’t be surprising if McGregor’s potential return extends beyond the UFC, with so many options available.
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“I’ve been around him for too long. I think we’ve been around each other for 20 years now, and I’ve seen him do so many things that seem impossible, and he does it over and over again,” Kavanagh said.
“If, then,” said he [fights again]I am not going to doubt it. We will see. I guess it will be another year before he starts to go back to MMA training obviously. He’s going through his rehab now, and he’s looking pretty good to me. It looks good enough to run. So he is very aggressive with his therapies and recovery. Then I guess I’ll wait to see what happens next year, and who knows, maybe I’ll be talking to you next summer.
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“I just don’t feel he’s done with the fight just yet. What’s it like? I don’t know. I think he’s one left with the UFC now, but maybe it could be his last UFC fight. He obviously has his own promotion, which is great. Who knows? Maybe Ki MMA, we can sign him.”
Kavanagh is the latest option with Ki MMA, Scott Coker’s latest venture and return to the MMA world, which is set to launch in 2027.
The first year will include promotion to the big tournament, but Coker said he will also hold notable fights in other weight classes. Kavanagh announced on the show on Tuesday that he is also part of the promotion in an ambassador role.
The possible match for Kavanagh came together coincidentally when McGregor was in camp, Kavanagh said, and Coker came to visit with the winning Rich Chou.
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“They offered me a kind of ambassadorial role, if you will. Basically, whatever needed to be done, I did,” Kavanagh said.
“In the last two decades I have built a good network, especially in Europe, but really also around the world. Whether it is helping with getting fighters, helping with venues, whatever needs to be done, I am there to help.
“I’m really excited to be a part of it. I’ve been involved in this game for a long time, and Scott is one of the few guys that has really shown that he could be a great competitor.”
Obviously, McGregor has to act and get out of his UFC contract before anything like a fight can happen in Ki MMA or anywhere else. But Kavanagh’s inclusion in McGregor’s operation certainly adds intrigue to the overall puzzle.