John Kavanagh is confident that Conor McGregor will make his long-awaited return to the octagon after recovering from his injury.
During his appearance on The MMA Hour, Kavanagh spoke about Johnny Walker’s impressive win at UFC 283 and gave his thoughts on the former two-division UFC champion’s return.
The SBG coach mentioned that he believes McGregor will compete in 2023 and revealed just how confident he feels about ‘Mystic Mac’s return:
“I’d be willing to bet my house on it… I’m very very confident we will see Conor back in the octagon this year.” [26:38 – 27:24]
When asked who ‘The Notorious’ plans to fight on his return, Kavanagh noted that there are plenty of options and great fighters to choose from in the UFC. He mentioned that he’d like the opponent to be someone who excites McGregor:
“Let’s say I’m seeing Conor this week, and we’re chatting, and he says a few names, and I see a name that particularly gets the eyes open and particularly gets him pacing up and down the living room and showing me what he’s gonna do and what he’s not gonna do. That would be absolutely the most important thing for me…a name that’s going to excite him.” [32:00 – 32:21]
‘Mystic Mac’ hasn’t fought since his trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021. The bout ended via doctor’s stoppage after the Irishman broke his leg following a leg kick and was unable to continue.
Check out the full interview:
Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh names potential opponents for his return fight
There has been plenty of speculation as to when Conor McGregor will return to the octagon and who his opponent will be.
In the past few months, he has revealed that February is when he will be re-entering the USADA testing pool.
‘The Notorious’ coach John Kavanagh recently appeared on The MMA Hour, where he told Ariel Helwani that he wants the UFC superstar to fight somebody that excites him and motivates him to train hard for 12 weeks:
“I think it’s more gonna be a particular opponent and a particular skillset and how it matches up against him. You’ve got the great Nate Diaz is obviously in there. Justin Gaethje I think would be an interesting matchup – someone he hasn’t fought before. The Poirier fight, we’ve done that so many times at this stage and it’s just a weird one. Michael Chandler – a great fighter, great athlete.” [32:45 – 33:12]