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Conor McGregor has been the subject of rumor and speculation for most of his career, but none so much as over the last year. The biggest question is when his much anticipated return to UFC action will be. After not entering the USADA testing pool until a few weeks ago, fans of the outspoken Irishman suffered the ultimate letdown of not getting their most sought after fight this year.
Conor McGregor’s mental health
According to John Kavanagh, Conor’s longtime coach and head of SBG Ireland, McGregor won’t be headlining UFC 300 or even feature on the card. Instead, a July date for International Fight Week is the most likely candidate. In an interview with Ariel Helwani earlier today, Kavanagh spoke on the topic, as well as McGregor’s mental state.
“And we were hoping for April. That was the hope. That was what we were told. And then now it seems to be the summertime. Okay, well, do we really need him for UFC 300? That’s going to be such a massive event. So, is he holding back for Fight Week? International Fight Week? I don’t really know.
He continued on, noting his worries for Conor’s mental health after Ariel voiced his own concerns, and then seemed to actually answer his question of ‘is he holding back for Fight Week?’
“I was too [worried about Conor’s mental health], I’m not gonna lie, but hearing him today, and he’s found this great group of training partners. At least he’s doing that.”
Conor McGregor won’t be fighting at UFC 300?
And this is where Kavanagh’s question of “Will he or won’t he” gets answered:
“Hey, it’s not quite the same as getting to compete in front of a large crowd, but at least he’s getting training in and that’s so important. We heard Volk talk about that. So I love to hear that he’s training harder with these guys. But this is what I was saying to him as well, ‘It’s a knockback hearing it wasn’t April, but now it’s July. It’s not the end of the world. It’s an extra couple of months. It’s not great, but hey, you’re enjoying your training at the moment, let’s just keep that going.'”
Who is Conor McGregor training with?
Brendan Loughnane is the latest high profile name to grace the SBG Ireland mats. Kavanagh says that he hooked up McGregor and the man Dana White passed on after his Contender Series win, stating that Brendan shouldn’t have gone for a double leg with 10 seconds left on the clock.
“He’s outside of Ireland at the minute, but he’s with Brendan Loughnane. I’d had Brendan over at my gym, and I realized him and Conor were going to be in the same area, so I got them connected, and I was delighted to see that they were getting along well. I knew they would get on really well really fast.
You know, kind of like a Stepbrothers or something, like doing Kung Fu in the Basin. So, I just knew once that connection was made, it was going to be great, and I’m getting some great feedback from Conor. He just sounds really motivated at the moment, really enjoying it again because he has that new toy, a new training partner. And Brendan’s a very, very smart training partner.”
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