White featherweight Sinead Kavanagh‘s 2022 started off on the right foot with a unanimous decision victory over Leah McCourt at Bellator 275 in February, the remainder of the year was must more difficult.
Coming off her win over McCourt, Kavanagh spent the remainder of 2022 out with a knee injury that tested both her physical and mental resolve.
“It was rough,” Kavanagh told MMAWeekly.com. “It was a rough year and a mentally challenging year for me.
“It was very frustrating injury-wise with the ACL and MCL. It was baby steps to get back to the gym. It took a lot of time to get there.”
While Kavanagh was able to work on her game during her downtime, she remains at heart someone who likes to let her fists fly and put on as entertaining a fight as possible.
“I showed in my last fight where I have the skills in the skill box,” said Kavanagh. “I’ve definitely have improved my game and wanted to showcase that in the next fight.
“I do love to stand and bang. I love to entertain the crowd. It depends on where the fight goes to show what I have.”
This Saturday in Dublin, Ireland, Kavanagh (8-5) will look to return to action with her second straight win when she faces Janay Harding (6-6) in a main card 145-pound bout at Bellator 291.
“I’ve just going to play what I love to do best,” Kavanagh said. “(Harding is) dangerous. She’s throws a lot of elbows, so I do have try to keep the distance, but she’s tall and rangy as well, so I do have to be in there as well.
“I just have to see where the fight goes. I can’t plan anything. You can have it in your head, but what comes out in that fight, I don’t know.”
Having missed out on a year because of her injury, Kavanagh is eager to make up for lost time and have a more active 2023.
“I have in me head to have three fights. I only had one fight last year, and one fight (a year) the last couple years because of Covid, so in me head I want three fights,” said Kavanagh.
“I set the goal in September to get back into the cage in February, and I did that, so I’m just going to keep pushing forward and try to have those three fights.”
