Coach John Kavanagh claims Conor McGregor plans to return to the Octagon this year

By Tom Taylor - June 26, 2017

Given that Conor McGregor will make far more money than he ever has in MMA for his August 26 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, widespread doubt has emerged that he will ever return to the UFC’s Octagon.

Conor McGregor

According to McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh, who spoke on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, however, money is no longer the motivator for McGregor.

“It’s not money that’s motivating him anymore,” Kavanagh said of McGregor. “He could very easily make similar money from doing some movies or some endorsements. It’s the challenge. That’s why he’s in the gym laughing everyday. If he left the gym now and stopped fighting, what would he do with his free time? You can only sit in one car at a time. You can only have one meal at a time. Eventually you’re going to want to do something that’s enjoyable to you, and that would be Conor drifting back into the gym. It’s what’s enjoyable to him. So yeah, the motivation for this fight was not money – though of course it’s nice to be well paid for what you do. It was the challenge, and to be told he can’t do what he’s saying clearly that he is about to do. So I don’t see any reason why he would not [return to MMA]. Certainly money would not be the reason he wouldn’t do MMA again.”

Kavanagh then claimed that McGregor told him he wants to return to the Octagon as soon as December.

“He has said very clearly to me, it’s ‘get ready, we’re back in the cage for December.’ I just hope somebody out there has sparked the interest in him to get excited about that,” Kavanagh said. 

“I have to be honest and say I’m not really thinking that way just yet,” Kavanagh added when asked about potential opponents for his fighter’s MMA return. “I think there’s a few names there that kind of boiling to the top, but haven’t quite left the pack behind. But there’s plenty of time for those guys to fight it out amongst each other. It’s still six odd months away. Let them guys really put a statement on about who is that guy, who is the guy that’s going to get us up early in the morning and make us 8 or 10 weeks hard training.” 

Do you think we’ll ever see Conor McGregor back in the Octagon?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/26/2017.

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


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Conor McGregor