John Kavanagh has a prediction for the interim lightweight title bout.
The SBG Ireland coach has played a crucial role in the success of reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight title holder Conor McGregor. Kavanagh is well aware of the situation at hand this Saturday night (March 4). Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will battle for the interim 155-pound gold in the co-main event of UFC 209.
In an interview with Submission Radio, Kavanagh revealed his main focus with McGregor is to get him back inside the Octagon. He’s eyeing a third fight with Nate Diaz as well as the winner of Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson for “Notorious.”
As far as Kavanagh’s prediction for the match-up, the renowned coach gives the edge to “The Eagle” over “El Cucuy” when the two meet inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (via MMAFighting.com):
“My number one thing would be for Conor to fight MMA. That’s my number one thing. That’s my selfish number one, what I would like to see. Which opponent? I’ve said it before – the Nate [Diaz] rematch interests me a lot because it’s 1-1 and how the styles match up. Almost on a par with that, not much difference, will be the winner of Khabib and [Tony] Ferguson this weekend. I think Khabib does it, so I think Khabib will be the winner. So Khabib will be the match up out of that. Below that would be [Georges St-Pierre]. Purely because GSP was an incredible fighter. [I’m a] big fan of him, I’ve learnt a lot from watching his fights, but it’s a long time since he’s fought and the game changes very, very quickly and I think Khabib is sort of like a better version of GSP. Although we don’t know, it’s hard to tell how GSP and Khabib would match up. But yeah, MMA-wise, Nate or almost on a par winner of Khabib/Ferguson.”
