One of the best coaches in MMA, John Kavanagh joined host Bryan Lacey on this week’s edition of the #WHOACAST.
Kavanagh who will be more well known to the common fan for his work with UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor and a number of other current UFC stars, kicked off the show discussing his role with the Irish version of Wimp 2 Warrior.
Kavanagh will be the head coach on the Irish version of the show and the SBG absolutely blown away by the effort each and every person put into the trials.
“I was very surprised at 1) How hard Lee and Richie push the guys, the tryouts were tougher than my pro fight team sessions. 2) What blew me away was the amount of people that completed it.”
“It turned out 79 people completed the trails and it broke my heart not being able to put all of them through.”
And whilst many may see and recognise Kavanagh living the dream in the States with the likes of Conor McGregor and his other pro fight team, for Kavanagh the level of competition is not important for him, he is far more concerned with the level of effort anyone puts into their training.
“I don’t care what level it’s for, im more concerned about the level of effort they are making.”
“What bought me to the sport has not gone away. I care about what level of effort is put into it. If they are showing me level of enthusiasm which gets me fired up then I want to train with them.”
And Bryan wouldn’t be able to get through an interview with Kavanagh without touching on his fighters, particularly UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor reflecting on his first UFC loss to Nate Diaz from #UFC196.
“What he wasn’t used to was dealing with someone in competition being heavier and have a longer reach and blew himself a little in the first round trying to get the quick finish.”
“There were some strategy errors in the fight, we learn from it. We make mistakes but we don’t repeat them.”
With a Nate Diaz rematch highly rumoured across the MMA media scene, Kavanagh was certainly not going to give away McGregor’s next opponent but is open to him fighting interesting fights over Title fights.
“Interesting opponents interest me more now than if it’s for the belt. Trying to outsmart, outwork their opponent which excite me.”
“Each weight class has its own set of pros and cons. Whoever it is no matter who you pick there are going to be people happy and unhappy. The proof is when we fast forward everyone would have been met and all styles will have been beaten.”
Be sure to check out the full version of the #WHOACAST in the link below;