SBG Ireland coach John Kavanagh appeared as a guest on Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com and revealed who he would like to see his biggest star pupil, “The Notorious” Conor McGregor, to fight next.
Kavanagh spoke with Helwani about McGregor’s history-making performance at UFC 205 and then explained that he feels Max Holloway is the number one fighter in his mind at 145 pounds, in terms of talent not rankings, and that the same can be said for Nate Diaz in the 155-pound division.
While aware that either Khabib Nurmagomedov or Tony Ferguson is likely next in line for a shot at McGregor’s newly acquired UFC Lightweight Championship, but he would personally prefer to see McGregor-Diaz finish the score on their rivalry with a rubber match.
Kavanagh added that he feels if Diaz were to fight Nurmagomedov or Ferguson, he would favor the Stockton, California native to defeat them both, pointing out that he feels Diaz truly turned a corner with his talent in the performance he put on against Michael Johnson.
Below is what SBG Ireland coach John Kavanagh had to say on Monday about his preference for Conor McGregor’s next opponent and his thoughts on some of the contenders that are in the mix.
“Now, I’m going to give you my full opinion. I think the second best 145er is Max Holloway, in my opinion. And I think the second best 155er is Nate Diaz,” Kavanagh explained. “That’s my opinion. I think Nate would beat either Tony or Khabib. I think he really turned a corner with the Michael Johnson fight. I think we saw a new version of him. I think he looked fantastic in both Conor’s fights. Now, I understand Khabib is the number one contender and it’s probably gonna be him if that’s how the company works but for me, interest wise, the Nate fight would interest me greater because of that. If it’s Tony, if it’s Khabib, great. They are two fantastic fighters.”
Check out Kavanagh’s appearance on Helwani’s “The MMA Hour” by clicking here.
H/T to BloodyElbow.com for transcribing the above John Kavanagh quotes from “The MMA Hour.”
