John Kavanagh Interview (Dissing American Wrestling)

Conor got taken down by one of the best wrestlers in the entire sport. He also got up twice and stuffed a couple.

He's not that bad at all. I'd love for someone to name me 5 guys that could get up with Mendes in their guard throwing elbows, not trying to pass.
 
Quote from a John Kavanagh interview before he fought Mendes:



Source: http://middleeasy.com/fighting/item/15594-john-kavanagh-explains-why-conor-mcgregor-will-whip-chad-mendes-ass


I'm a huge Conor fan who thinks he's the GOAT and will easily beatdown Jose Aldo.

But John Kavanagh's dismissal of "American Blast Doubles" (as he derogatorily calls them) is why Conor was grounded for much of his fight with Mendes.

John, buddy, if you're reading this thread you need to listen the fuck up.

Who the fuck cares if Chad has "finesse" -- if he can take Conor down at will.

The eastern European wrestlers who train at SBG Ireland obviously ain't up to American standards -- else Conor wouldn't have been taken down and held down so easily.

Granted, Conor was injured before the fight and couldn't train wrestling.

But it's clear that Conor's wrestling just wasn't good enough to stop Chad's blast doubles, regardless of whether he trained wrestling or not. He also needs to learn to get the fuck up once taken down.

Got that, John? I'm talking to you, sir.

SBG Ireland needs to hire top American wrestlers to start training with Conor.

I really think Conor is being held back by his loyalty to Kavanagh's euro-centric training regimen.

Lord knows Cathal is being held back by Kavanagh, cuz that mother fucker hasn't improved one iota in his entire UFC tenure.

I'm beginning to think SBG Ireland is too proud to evolve to the next level of MMA.

Discuss.

Ah, yes. That minor little detail.
 
Who is John Kavanagh in the grand scheme of things?

A Nobody, he got lucky to have a guy like Conor come through, it certainly isn't his coaching that got Conor to where he is today

He also trains a bunch of other unsuccessful fights like Cathal, but he will use Conor as the standard and not mention how he has been Pendred's coach for years and the guy still can't fight his way out of a wet paper bag
 
it certainly isn't his coaching that got Conor to where he is today

Conor: "A longtime teammate of mine had got some bad news from too many wars inside the Octagon. So, you know, I sat back, and the UFC had not called, and I was thinking, 'I don't think I want to do this. Maybe, maybe this is not for me.' If this happened to my friend, who came up with me in the game and now he cannot compete anymore... And he is UFC-caliber, also. But he never got his opportunity. So I sat back and had essentially walked away from the sport. I was out of the gym for maybe three, four weeks, which is ... I am never out of the gym for three to four weeks."

McGregor was avoiding the gym and all related responsibilities when he got a phone call from his coach, John Kavanagh, that forced him to make a decision on what direction he'd now take his life.

"I was sitting in my friend's car at one stage and the phone rang," McGregor remembered. "It was from Iceland. My coach was in Iceland with my teammate Gunnar (Nelson). He was preparing to fight. And it rang, and it rang. And I did not want to answer, because I had not been in the gym for four weeks and I coached the boxing class at the gym. So, for every Tuesday for (those) four weeks I was missing. I didn't text anyone. I didn't show up. I was just done. I was gone. And the phone kept ringing and ringing and my friend in the car said, 'Just answer the thing.' I said, 'I'm not answering the thing because it's going to be a fight. We're going to be arguing over something. I'm just going to leave it and forget about it.' So, it kept ringing. So I said, 'I will answer it.'"

The next words McGregor heard gave him pause and compelled him to look inward. "'How do you feel about making your UFC debut in nine weeks in Sweden?'" Kavanagh asked McGregor over the phone.
 
Conor: "A longtime teammate of mine had got some bad news from too many wars inside the Octagon. So, you know, I sat back, and the UFC had not called, and I was thinking, 'I don't think I want to do this. Maybe, maybe this is not for me.' If this happened to my friend, who came up with me in the game and now he cannot compete anymore... And he is UFC-caliber, also. But he never got his opportunity. So I sat back and had essentially walked away from the sport. I was out of the gym for maybe three, four weeks, which is ... I am never out of the gym for three to four weeks."

McGregor was avoiding the gym and all related responsibilities when he got a phone call from his coach, John Kavanagh, that forced him to make a decision on what direction he'd now take his life.

"I was sitting in my friend's car at one stage and the phone rang," McGregor remembered. "It was from Iceland. My coach was in Iceland with my teammate Gunnar (Nelson). He was preparing to fight. And it rang, and it rang. And I did not want to answer, because I had not been in the gym for four weeks and I coached the boxing class at the gym. So, for every Tuesday for (those) four weeks I was missing. I didn't text anyone. I didn't show up. I was just done. I was gone. And the phone kept ringing and ringing and my friend in the car said, 'Just answer the thing.' I said, 'I'm not answering the thing because it's going to be a fight. We're going to be arguing over something. I'm just going to leave it and forget about it.' So, it kept ringing. So I said, 'I will answer it.'"

The next words McGregor heard gave him pause and compelled him to look inward. "'How do you feel about making your UFC debut in nine weeks in Sweden?'" Kavanagh asked McGregor over the phone.

Cool story and all but Conor has immense confidence in himself and that is why he is there, it is cool the guy got him a UFC fight but not like that was hard he was a highly regarded prospect

He may be a good guy and all but he needs to build his own legacy if he wants to say crazy things, not piggyback on Conor's success
 
Cool story and all but Conor has immense confidence in himself and that is why he is there, it is cool the guy got him a UFC fight but not like that was hard he was a highly regarded prospect

He may be a good guy and all but he needs to build his own legacy if he wants to say crazy things, not piggyback on Conor's success

A trainer's legacy is built on the success of his pupils.
 
A Nobody, he got lucky to have a guy like Conor come through, it certainly isn't his coaching that got Conor to where he is today

He also trains a bunch of other unsuccessful fights like Cathal, but he will use Conor as the standard and not mention how he has been Pendred's coach for years and the guy still can't fight his way out of a wet paper bag

Lol you sound like such a mindless hater. So because he isn't making every pro in his gym fight on Conor's level he doesn't have any contribution in bringing his skill that high?

You've been home masturbating and posting on sherdog, that you think you've got a clue as to how things went down in those early years is both funny and sad.
 
Cool story and all but Conor has immense confidence in himself and that is why he is there, it is cool the guy got him a UFC fight but not like that was hard he was a highly regarded prospect

Completely naive statement. Seems you have no idea what a gigantic difference a good influence can make in a person's life.

Without John Kavanagh, Conor McGregor would be a plumber right now.
 
For some reason MMA fans think an average NCAA wrestler is a better at wrestling than a non-American olympian.
 
For some reason MMA fans think an average NCAA wrestler is a better at wrestling than a non-American olympian.

JuCo Jon Jones outwrestled Olympian Cormier.

Division II Derek Brunson outwrestled Non-American Olympian Yoel Romero.
 
kavanagh is a fucking hack. wrestling is wrestling in the first part of the interview... but apparently theres a difference to american and russian wrestling later on? ok john time to stfu
 
He's right that easter europe wrestling is far ahead of american.. but in MMA sometimes the more explosive style, not the most technical gets you farther.. because rounds are so short etc..

Granted eastern europe wrestlers don't really fight MMA, so there's also that.
 
Completely naive statement. Seems you have no idea what a gigantic difference a good influence can make in a person's life.

Without John Kavanagh, Conor McGregor would be a plumber right now.

And before that there's the story of Conor's Mother ringing up Kavanagh as he'd gone off the rails a bit & stopped training altogether, IIRC. It's why I find it funny that people think Mendes humbled Conor so much he was relieved the fight was over. Bollocks. One of the first things he done was thank his team & family. When people mention he's never been that emotional in post fight interviews before, it's because I'd imagine, the factor of not winning a belt in every fight.

To the chap saying Kavanagh produced a fighter like Pendred. Don't forget he won a belt in Cage Warriors, too. He doesn't seem to evolve in his fights & I wouldn't argue against the point that he's not easy on the eye. Kavanagh seems fiercely protective of his fighters - especially Pendred, given the abuse he gets on Twitter and what not. But he's a big boy & I'm sure he can handle himself. And he certainly doesn't shy away from letting it being known he's Pendred's coach. That's just being silly.

Who are the other "unsuccessful fighters" he has? I'm pretty sure if you combine all the fighters from SBG win/lose record, there's more wins. They have an interim Champion as well. Not bad in the space of two years.
 
kavanagh is a fucking hack. wrestling is wrestling in the first part of the interview... but apparently theres a difference to american and russian wrestling later on? ok john time to stfu


Kavanagh correctly points out wrestling is wrestling and eastern europeans wrestlers are at least as good as the best americans at wrestling and his gym is full of eastern europeans
and then talks about mendes not having much finesse.its others who talked on and on about the american wrestler test for connor.....all kavanaghs pointing out is hes trained with guys just as good.and u can learn wrestling anywhere.
 
Kavanagh correctly points out wrestling is wrestling and eastern europeans wrestlers are at least as good as the best americans at wrestling and his gym is full of eastern europeans
and then talks about mendes not having much finesse.its others who talked on and on about the american wrestler test for connor.....all kavanaghs pointing out is hes trained with guys just as good.and u can learn wrestling anywhere.

Yeah, firstly he's just giving his opinion. And secondly, the whole story before the fight was how Conor would fare against a wrestler. It's not like he's come out lashing out at American wrestling/wrestlers.
 
I dont mind Kavanagh but he's a bit off sometimes. I cant remember exactly what he said but it was about not believing in talent being a thing. Bit of a stupid thing to say I thought
 
Of course Cavanog will put down American wrestling. It had his boy Conor Mc on his back for most of two rounds looking like a complete novice. Cavanog can have all the elite Russian wrestlers in his camp he wants, they won't help if Conor Mc doesn't work on his wrestling. Then Cavanog can make excuses about his knee injury as to why his wrestling still sucks.

The original article was actually published the day before 189. :rolleyes:
 
Yeah, firstly he's just giving his opinion. And secondly, the whole story before the fight was how Conor would fare against a wrestler. It's not like he's come out lashing out at American wrestling/wrestlers.

Exactly
T.s has warped this to some anti american wrestling comment when in reality its just an accurate response to all the pre fight 'connors ducking wrestlers \wait til he meets a d1 or ncaa guy ' talk that swamped mma forums
Hes not dissed anyone here but mendes....which is expected pre fight.
 
I dont mind Kavanagh but he's a bit off sometimes. I cant remember exactly what he said but it was about not believing in talent being a thing. Bit of a stupid thing to say I thought

Wasnt that about natural talent?
 
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