John Kavanagh says Conor McGregor preparing for UFC return after figuring out motivations

LAS VEGAS – John Kavanagh likes what he’s seeing out of Conor McGregor in the gym as the former dual-UFC champ plots his octagon return in 2020.

All signs point to McGregor (21-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) making his comeback at an unannounced UFC event on Jan. 18 in Las Vegas. McGregor has said he’ll be competing, and UFC president Dana White has since confirmed that, while not finalized, a fight involving the Irishman is in the works.

Donald Cerrone (36-13 MMA, 23-10 UFC) appears to be the frontrunner to fight McGregor, and though Kavanagh said he can’t confirm that yet, he said preparations are already underway for the proposed date at SBG Ireland in Dublin.

“Eleven weeks this Saturday,” Kavanagh told MMA Junkie. “I certainly hope so. Who? I don’t know. I won’t pretend I know. I have a feeling it’s pretty close for contracts to be signed and everything to be made 100 percent. Our mindset anyway is we’re preparing for 11 weeks Saturday.”

McGregor hasn’t fought since a submission loss to UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018. He’s spent more than a year teasing a potential return, but a slate of outside-the-octagon woes have seemingly intercepted his comeback.

Kavanagh didn’t address the specific details of McGregor’s personal life, but he thinks the fact he’s training so intensely is a sign of righting the ship.

“It’s almost a curse achieving all your goals,” Kavanagh said. “If you’re 18, 19 and you write down, ‘I want to be world champion and I want to have more money than I can spend.’ Then you achieve it. You’re going to have to take a while to look around and think, ‘What do I do now? I achieved my goals.’ I think that’s what he’s been trying to figure out for the past year or two. As far as I can tell he has figured that out and now he’s back doing what it is that makes him happy.”

McGregor has had just one MMA fight in the past three years (as well as his famous boxing match with Floyd Mayweather), so to see his star pupil back and working hard is uplifting for Kavanagh and he knows that, “Whoever it is (he fights), it’ll be a great contest.”

“His whole life he’s been obsessed about this sport and I’ve always said it’s been one of the few times I really get to see him engaged and happy and excited,” Kavanagh said. “Obviously he has a lot of wealth and you can buy anything you want and eventually you get tired of looking at another rolex watch. To do an activity that brings him a lot of joy, it’s very rewarding to see him to training.”