Conor McGregor’s Coach Responds To Calls For Him To Be Fired
Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh has responded to former UFC champion, Michael Bisping calling for him to be fired after ‘Notorious’ suffered back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier.
Following McGregor’s second loss to Poirier this year, Kavanagh came under intense criticism for his evaluation of McGregor’s performance. Kavanagh stated that he had no concern over the first round which saw two of the three judges score a 10-8 round for Poirier.
“It was going fantastic. I thought he looked really, really good in there,” Kavanagh said. “I wasn’t concerned at all. I was actually really, really happy. At the 4:30 mark or even the 4:45 mark, everything is gravy. I thought the energy looked good, technique looked good. A few adjustments in between rounds and I thought in round two we were well on track to possibly getting a finish or at least to keep the rhythm going for the rest of the fight.”
In an interview with BT Sport, Bisping would slam Kavanagh over his comments, “just like his coach John Kavanagh has, he said, ‘oh, I saw nothing that concerned me. I knew that in the second round we would get the knockout. Nothing I was seeing there concerned me at all.’ If that’s true, John Kavanagh, Conor should fire you immediately because that was very concerning. You were on your back and you were getting dominated. It was a 10-8 round. That’s concerning! You don’t want to get your ass kicked, simple as that, and that’s what was happening.”
Conor McGregor’s Coach Listens To The Critics
In a response to the call for him to be fired, Kavanagh told The Mirror, “I would take criticism from anybody, that’s very important. I wouldn’t say I was hurt, I wasn’t going, ‘Oh no Bisping said something’, that’s his opinion and everybody is welcome to their opinion.
“I‘m always self-critical but if I’m being 100 percent honest, it’ll be the people closest to me saying something,” Kavanagh continued. “I have a lot of very honest people around me – that’ll be what makes me really stand up and think.”
Kavanagh also explained that although his star pupil in McGregor, didn’t have the best 2021 his gym, SBG Ireland continues to be successful. “For this quarter that’s just ending we had a 70 percent win rate” Kavanagh explained, “20 fighters and 14 wins and that’s going to be right up there with some of the best gyms in the world. Our biggest star [McGregor] obviously overshadows everything we do and if he slips then people say the whole gym is terrible.”
What do you think? Should Conor McGregor part ways with John Kavanagh?
