John Kavanagh: Conor McGregor ‘Definitely’ Fighting Again Before Summer

Don’t expect to wait a while to see Conor McGregor back in action.

McGregor returned for the first time in 15 months when he faced Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 on Saturday night. Coming aggressive right from the get-go, McGregor blitzed “Cowboy” en route to a dominant 40-second TKO victory in the first round.

The attention then turned to who his next opponent should be. UFC president Dana White believes a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov makes sense. However, Nurmagomedov defends his lightweight title against Tony Ferguson in April.

Should he win that fight, he likely won’t compete for a couple of months because of Ramadan. Even still, McGregor’s head coach Kavanagh doesn’t expect McGregor to be out of action too long.

In fact, he believes his student will definitely fight again before the summer:

“Before the summer? I’d be very surprised if he wasn’t going to compete before the summer,” Kavanagh said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday. “There’s talk of March, April. Definitely going to be competing before the summer. What I think would make sense is we get ready. We prepare for the April fight [between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson]. If one of those guys is unfortunate enough to not be able to make the walk, then we’re ready to go.

“Then if that’s not there, schedule one within a few weeks of that April fight. Then you’re kind of on the same timeline as those guys for a fight a couple of months after that.”

As for who Kavanagh would like to see McGregor face if Nurmagomedov and Ferguson do end up fighting?

“”Justin Gaethje at 170. That would be my personal preference,” he added.

Do you think we’ll see McGregor back before the summer?