- Long-time coach John Kavanagh surprised at Conor McGregor’s brilliant performance upon UFC comeback
- Kavanagh says first-round knockout ‘wasn’t really planned’ and calls McGregor ‘terrifying and fantastic at the same time’
Conor McGregor's coach John Kavanagh had told everyone leading up to his scintillating UFC 246 comeback against Donald Cerrone that this would be the "best version" of McGregor fans would see to date.
But the 31-year-old Irishman's (professional MMA record 22-4) blitz of Cerrone even exceeded Kavanagh's high expectations.
"I did say repeatedly that I thought this would be the best Conor McGregor of all time, but I didn't know that it was going to be this good a version. He really seems to have reached a different level of athleticism now than he's ever had in his career," Kavanagh said on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show.
"He always had an incredibly high IQ and that seems to be married with an Olympic level of athleticism. It's somewhat terrifying and fantastic at the same time."
McGregor did not waste any time from the moment the fight began, swinging hard with his left and sprawling on Cerrone's subsequent duck and takedown attempt.
"I asked him afterwards about it and it wasn't really planned," Kavanagh said. "He just saw (Cerrone) and wanted that first contact. A little bit overexcited and fantastic reactions from Donald to slip under that, and even more fantastic reactions (from McGregor).
"It was an incredible feat of athleticism … how quickly he changed from throwing a punch to hipping in, sprawling in to defend a takedown … very impressive."
The former double champion proceeded to shoulder veteran Cerrone in the face four times " seeming to break his nose " before landing a head-kick and finishing with punches to get the technical knockout.
"Yeah, that (shoulder training) has been going on for the last year or so … It's the first time I've seen them to that level of effectiveness," Kavanagh explained. "They seemed to cause a lot of damage. In sparring in the gym you're not throwing shots with as much force to do that amount of damage, but when they separated and I saw what they done, I was pleased."
Although Kavanagh, a long-time coach of McGregor, had predicted a one-of-a-kind performance from McGregor and previously said the fight would likely go to the fourth or fifth round with an eventual knockout win.
"I wouldn't have been surprised for it to go late because Donald has shown in the past the ability to absorb a lot of punishment and drag fights into the later rounds.
"This is not a return to the Eddie Alvarez or (Jose) Aldo (fight) Conor McGregor," he added. "This is a new and improved version. The athlete you saw in there for all too short a time, unfortunately, is a better Conor McGregor. We're in for some good times, yeah."
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