Conor McGregor’s Coach Prefers Trilogy with Nate Diaz Over Fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov

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TheEmperorRises

TheEmperorRises

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John Kavanagh, who is the long-time head coach of former Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor, has weighed in on who he believes his star pupil should face in his return to the Octagon.

Most fans believe a match between McGregor and current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is a lock, although until McGregor’s legal issues are sorted as a result of his bus attack back in April, nothing has been officially announced. McGregor and his legal team are currently working on a plea deal.

Kavanagh, the head coach of SBG Ireland in Ireland, talked with MMA Fighting.com and stated despite everyone wanting McGregor vs Nurmagomedov, he would prefer a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz:

“Nate Diaz is my favorite fight, by the way,” Kavanagh said. “If I could pick a fight for the next one it would be that trilogy. I realize it’s not the fan-favorite.

“The fan-favorite, without a close second, is the Khabib fight, but for me, it’s the Nate Diaz rematch and I think the Khabib fight is a lot more straight forward.”

While McGregor has fought most of his career at 145 and 155 pounds with huge success, arguably his biggest challenge so far was against a bigger guy in Diaz at 170 pounds. The Stockton native took the Irishman’s best strikes in both their fights and continued to walk forward.

”For me, he had already lost to him, it’s a bigger guy, Conor’s skill set is shutting people’s consciousness off and he’s impossible -- a freaking Homer Simpson head, he just keeps moving forward,” Kavanagh said.

“Conor’s bravery in [the fight], I’ve seen Conor fight a lot of people that he’s able to walk through and that’s great, it’s fun and you raise a belt, but it doesn’t it doesn’t really excite me that much, not really. But that fight, if you’d been around him, by the time he’d got backstage [after losing the first Diaz fight], we were watching that night, and then the next morning he was not off the phone until Lorenzo and Dana said that would be his next fight.”


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Conor McGregor’s Coach Prefers Trilogy with Nate Diaz Over Fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov
 
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Yeah, he likes Conor's chance in a fist fight rather than a grappling match, I get that.... Not sure this third fight ever happens though, they can't sell it over all the other fights.
 
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distant1

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its the biggest money fight and it be best for conor to get one fight in before he makes a run at an elite guy, plus it will build buzz for any other future fights
 
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distant1 said:
its the biggest money fight and it be best for conor to get one fight in before he makes a run at an elite guy, plus it will build buzz for any other future fights
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Biggest money earner for the UFC? Possibly.... However, it's not a good fight for Conor. I am biased due to my association with Nate, however as a coach evaluating a fight... Conor, here's a guy you hit with literally EVERYTHING, and the end result has been you getting choked out, and winning an arguable decision... It's high risk, low reward for Conor.

Conor has gone 7 rounds with Nate, hasn't gotten the KO he wants, has taken a lot of damage, and decided to take a boxing match with Mayweather where he took a lot of hits too in the interim.... If he goes 5 more with Nate and takes the shots he has, and gets a decision win, and THEN goes to fight the Khabib's/Fergs/possibly Michael Chandler/Gaethje... That's a LOT of heavy hitters he'd have to face in a time where he is looking to wind down his career. I could see him just walking away at that point, not wanting to risk the added damage.

If he loses to Nate (when he losses... Because WAR DIAZ!!!), they can't sell him as a top contender, he'd be forced to take money fights, but there would be no legitimate reason to put him against the division top 5. People will tune in to watch him, but fight wise, the only fight IMO for him to possibly take, is one against GSP (or go try to box again).

I could be wrong about all of this, but with all the Conor shenanigans this last year, I see people getting tired of his gimmick. They want to see him vs Khabib, anything else would piss off the mma fans big-time.
 
TheEmperorRises

TheEmperorRises

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distant1 said:
its the biggest money fight and it be best for conor to get one fight in before he makes a run at an elite guy, plus it will build buzz for any other future fights
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It's not bigger than Conor vs Khabib. It might have been, till Conor fought that bus and Khabib won the belt.
 
Truck Party

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Rhino said:
Biggest money earner for the UFC? Possibly.... However, it's not a good fight for Conor. I am biased due to my association with Nate, however as a coach evaluating a fight... Conor, here's a guy you hit with literally EVERYTHING, and the end result has been you getting choked out, and winning an arguable decision... It's high risk, low reward for Conor.

Conor has gone 7 rounds with Nate, hasn't gotten the KO he wants, has taken a lot of damage, and decided to take a boxing match with Mayweather where he took a lot of hits too in the interim.... If he goes 5 more with Nate and takes the shots he has, and gets a decision win, and THEN goes to fight the Khabib's/Fergs/possibly Michael Chandler/Gaethje... That's a LOT of heavy hitters he'd have to face in a time where he is looking to wind down his career. I could see him just walking away at that point, not wanting to risk the added damage.

If he loses to Nate (when he losses... Because WAR DIAZ!!!), they can't sell him as a top contender, he'd be forced to take money fights, but there would be no legitimate reason to put him against the division top 5. People will tune in to watch him, but fight wise, the only fight IMO for him to possibly take, is one against GSP (or go try to box again).

I could be wrong about all of this, but with all the Conor shenanigans this last year, I see people getting tired of his gimmick. They want to see him vs Khabib, anything else would piss off the mma fans big-time.
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I'd like to agree with most of this, but what's Nate been doing since their last fight? The gas tank might be able to get rebuilt, but a superhuman chin like Diaz' can go away at anytime.

I can't imagine Mac/Diaz 3 being bigger than Khabib, but that's only antecdotal
 
KWingJitsu

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Yeah, I too would fancy a fight with a similarly retired former fighter, over getting ragdolled by the beastly muslim bear.
 
Hwoarang

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Really?! He wants to fight the number 8 guy and not the absolute monster of a champion who's never before been defeated.
Speaks volumes.
 
Mix6APlix

Mix6APlix

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Lol. Hes never fighting again, and if by the slimmest chance he does, he clearly will dick tuck duck The Real Champion, Khabib. Hes a joke. And why the fuck has he not been stripped yet Dana? Didnt egg say over a month ago that he was going to get stripped? Holy dog shit, Dana lies?
 
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He didn't throw a dolly at a bus and spend the night in the clink to do the Nate Diaz rubber match now.

Khabib first, then Nate can get his ass whooped again.
 
lsa

lsa

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I like how some people believe that the biggest money fight would be vs a semi retired Nate Diaz (that fought how many times since the last Conor fight?), and not taking on the undefeated champion. A champion that became champion by winning a belt Conor got stripped off.
NO good story to promote there...........


Yeah lets go with Conor Nate 3... Because Conor was so BRAVE in that fight according to Kav...
 
FrankieNYC

FrankieNYC

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lsa said:
I like how some people believe that the biggest money fight would be vs a semi retired Nate Diaz (that fought how many times since the last Conor fight?), and not taking on the undefeated champion. A champion that became champion by winning a belt Conor got stripped off.
NO good story to promote there...........


Yeah lets go with Conor Nate 3... Because Conor was so BRAVE in that fight according to Kav...
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Until bus gate, Diaz was the bigger fight

But with that bit of stupidity, Conor can make Khabib just as big or bigger

Remember, they are selling to casuals
Casuals don't care that diaz is semi-retied
Tens of millions saw Mayweather who was retired fight Conor in a glorified sparring match ;)
 
Robbie Hart

Robbie Hart

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Feb 13, 2015
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FrankieNYC said:
Until bus gate, Diaz was the bigger fight

But with that bit of stupidity, Conor can make Khabib just as big or bigger

Remember, they are selling to casuals
Casuals don't care that diaz is semi-retied
Tens of millions saw Mayweather who was retired fight Conor in a glorified sparring match ;)
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Excellent points....I’m dying to see the Diaz fight though
 
Dat Pre-HollyHolm Ronda $

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lsa said:
I like how some people believe that the biggest money fight would be vs a semi retired Nate Diaz (that fought how many times since the last Conor fight?), and not taking on the undefeated champion. A champion that became champion by winning a belt Conor got stripped off.
NO good story to promote there...........


Yeah lets go with Conor Nate 3... Because Conor was so BRAVE in that fight according to Kav...
Click to expand...
Yeah the "brave" stuff he was saying perplexed me. Not sure which fight he was watching.
Either that or his definition of bravery differs from mine. That said I wanna see Conor fight
the damn top ranked contenders like he shoulda done when he held the belt.

I'm all full up on money fights and freak shows.

Can we just fight the damn top ranked fighters for once please? Thanks Kav
 
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lsa

lsa

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Dat Pre-HollyHolm Ronda $ said:
Yeah the "brave" stuff he was saying perplexed me. Not sure which fight he was watching.
Either that or his definition of bravery differs from mine. That said I wanna see Conor fight
the damn top ranked contenders like he shoulda done when he held the belt.

I'm all full up on money fights and freak shows.

Can we just fight the damn top ranked fighters for once please? Thanks Kav
Click to expand...
Yeah.. I dont get it.
I remember back in the day when MMA fighters wanted to prove them self be the best they could be.
I remember how fans wanted to see this and discussed this.

Today fans talk about money fights and potential ppv buys and who has most followers on IG and twitter.
I cant understand why thats important to fans.
I want to see the best fight the best and champions defending their belts.
 
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