According to his coach, Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather is going to happen, and McGregor is already in the midst of training for the bout.
Speaking to Fox Sports Australia, McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh said that while contracts have yet to be signed for the bout, he and McGregor are already moving forward with a training plan for the bout. “In my mind, it’s on,” Kavanagh said. “That’s the mentality we’re in. Let the people in the suits worry about the paperwork. We’re training for it.”
Kavanagh also believes that training for boxing will be an easier process than a mixed martial arts fight because they can now solely focus on a single discipline rather than many.
“Boxing is one of the ten skills you need for mixed martial arts,” he said. “But now we’re only doing boxing so we can drop wrestling and jiu-jitsu and Thai boxing, we can just focus on the boxing,” he said. “So of course we’re getting ready to fight arguably one of the best defensive boxers of all time, but the training will become simplified cause we only have to do boxing so it’s a new challenge I’m excited about.”
McGregor will have a lot of ground to make up on Mayweather though, so while Kavanagh and McGregor can only worry about boxing right now, Mayweather has only worried about boxing his entire career and has a 49-0 record to show for it.
Hiscoe’s Analysis: This sounds less like posturing from Kavanagh and more like he’s taking the possibility of this fight seriously. The longer this has gone one, the more realistic it has become, and now it seems like the fight is inevitable and, dare I say, it’ll be a disappointment if it doesn’t happen. I still don’t like McGregor’s chances, and I’m not sure it’s the best move in the long run for him or the UFC, but it will be one hell of a spectacle.
WEDNESDAY NOTEBOOK ITEMS…
-Dana White told Colin Cowherd today that one reason he’s allowing the McGregor-Mayweather fight to move forward is out of loyalty to McGregor for being a good company man in the past. “This kid steps up,” White said on “The Herd.” “He’ll fight anybody, anywhere, anytime. A lot of people say it; very few really mean it. Conor McGregor, I call him the unicorn. I’ve never dealt with a kid like this. So for him to have this kind of opportunity, to make this kind of money, this type of a fight that people are so interested in worldwide, I almost feel like I have to make it.”
-Professional boxer David Haye told Boxing News Online that UFC has contacted him about potentially fighting Jimi Manuwa. Manuwa called Haye out after his win over Corey Anderson last month.
-UFC Heavyweight Justin Ledet has accepted a four-month suspension from USADA after it was found his January out of competition test failure was due to a tainted supplement.
-Paige VanZant appeared on the celebrity edition of “Chopped” last night and advanced to the final round, which will air on April 25 at 10/9c on Food Network.
-UFC 210 Embedded episode 3 is now available HERE.
NOW CHECK OUT YESTERDAY’S UPDATE: TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE 4/4: Nurmagomedov says doctors told him he almost died cutting weight before UFC 209 (w/Hiscoe’s Analysis)
(MMATorch’s Daily News Digest features the top story of the day with added analysis, plus smaller tidbits in the News Notes section. Mike Hiscoe, who writes the News Digest Sundays through Thursdays, has a background in film criticism and previously wrote for the DVD Town and Movie Metropolis websites. His passion for Mixed Martial Arts goes back to 2005, but it was in the promotion for UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie that he really got hooked.”This is my house, I build it,” is still among the all-time great UFC promos. You can follow Mike on social media under the tag @mikehiscoe. He now provides his experienced writing and perspective on live MMA events for MMATorch.)
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