John Kavanagh: Conor McGregor's return delayed again, UFC no longer targeting April

13/11/2023 23:00

Conor McGregor's long-awaited UFC return has been delayed once again, according to McGregor's longtime coach John Kavanagh of SBG Ireland.

"We were hoping for April. That was the hope. That was what we were told. And now it seems to be the summertime," Kavanagh said Monday on The MMA Hour.

"I don't know [why]. That's literally what we were having a bit of a back and forward [about] today."

McGregor told reporters in late October that the UFC was targeting April for his comeback fight. In that interview, McGregor voiced frustration at his long layoff since July 2021 and expressed optimism that April appeared to be a promising target for the promotion. The former two-division UFC champion officially re-entered the UFC's drug-testing pool with USADA on Oct. 8, meaning he will be eligible to compete again on April 8, 2024, per USADA rules. He recently submitted his first drug tests since re-entering the program.

Kavanagh on Monday admitted that McGregor and the team are "very frustrated" by this latest news. He questioned whether the UFC intends to hold McGregor back for International Fight Week, which usually takes place in July, and speculated that promotion officials may have decided to postpone McGregor's return because of their belief that UFC 300 in April will be a big enough event without McGregor's presence on the pay-per-view.

Kavangh also acknowledged that he's had his own concerns about the effect a longer wait will have on an already impatient McGregor in regards to the former champ's mental health.

"Well, I was [worried about his mental health] too, I'm not going to lie. But hearing him today, he's out there finding this great group of training partners — at least he's doing that," Kavanagh said. "Hey, it's not quite the same as getting in to compete in front of a large crowd, but at least he's getting training in, and that's so important. We heard Volk talk about that, 'Keep me busy,' and all that. So I love to hear that he's training hard with these guys.

"But look, and this is what I was saying to him as well — yeah, OK, it's a knock back if we're hearing it was April but now it's July, but it's not the end of the world. It is an extra couple of months. It's not great. But hey, you're enjoying your training at the moment. Let's just keep that going. But the sport, you are around for such a short time as compared to — well, I'm not going to try to make a comparison to other sports or whatever, but like our careers, we can do this for decades. For fighters, is a short time."

Kavanagh said he remains hopeful that the UFC changes its mind and follows through with an April date for McGregor. If that happens, he believes McGregor would be eager to return for a second fight in 2024 "in September or the end of the summer," health permitting. He added that he expects Michael Chandler at 170 pounds to be the next matchup and that McGregor has been 100 percent recovered from his injured leg "for a while" now.

In the end, though, if April is suddenly out of the question, the SBG Ireland headman said Team McGregor will simply adjust and roll with the punches, as they've always done.

"What good does worry do me?" Kavanagh said.

"[My wife] sent me a great one, it was like, 'Worry is like paying a debt you don't owe.' So look, what will be will be. Today's great. ... For me to live in seven months' time, I can't do it."