McGregor (left) is a student of Kavanagh (right) at SBG Ireland. Photo: Reproduction
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John Kavanagh, head coach of Conor McGregor, broke the silence and gave his opinion on the UFC's attitude in removing the featherweight belt from his pupil and, consequently, hiring the Brazilian José Aldo as the new linear champion of the category. Kavanagh did not hide his disappointment with the company, and dismissed the decision as 'ridiculous'.
“For me personally, I was very disappointed in how they went about it. It was a very complicated set of circumstances that led them to do this. They lost a main event (from UFC 206) and casually created a new main event. They felt they needed it to be worth a title in order to sell it, so they brought in another interim belt that José Aldo already have, and have promoted José Aldo the current absolute champion, which seems ridiculous to me”, declared Kavanagh, according to the website “Severe MMA”.
For John, there is no justification for Conor to lose the belt, as, according to him, there are other athletes who have not defended their titles for longer than the Irishman. “Conor has only had that title for 11 months. There are many, many examples of fighters waiting 15 months, 18 months before defending it. He's been there for 11 months and they took it away from him. I thought it was very premature on the part of the UFC how they acted”, concluded the coach.
Even without the featherweight division title, McGregor's future remains uncertain. The tendency is for him to defend the lightweight belt against Tony Ferguson, Khabib Nurmagomedov or even with your rival Nate diaz, however, a possible rise in category to challenge Tyron woodley, welterweight champion.
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