McGregor (left) with John Kavanagh (right) (Photo by Sportsfile/Corbis via Getty Images)
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Main coach of Conor McGregor, John Kavanagh knows the lightweight champion like few others. And he revealed one of the Irishman's biggest fears: having some type of brain damage due to blows suffered during his fights.
Kavanagh even acknowledged that McGregor's style was shaped with this fear in mind. The coach sees his pupil as a fighter with defensive characteristics, who gets in and out quickly and doesn't exchange blows at random.
“It’s a concern for every fighter. At this level of fighting, the risk is very real. But I think you can count on two hands the number of clean blows to the head Conor has suffered in his 10 years of professional fighting. His fighting style responds to this, because his style is not fighting. He doesn't stand still and exchange blows. His style is to get in and out, he is very defensive. This style was born from not wanting to lose and not wanting to suffer blows to the head, not wanting to “damage the software”, commented Kavanagh, to the Irish newspaper “The Independent”.
The coach hopes that there will be more awareness about the issue of brain damage in combat sports, something that should be started in Ireland soon, according to the newspaper itself. The idea is that the country's Sports Minister, Shane Ross, will adopt stricter regulations for the practice of MMA.
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