Conor McGregor’s coach loving what UFC star is doing during injury lay-off after fearing for his mental health

5 months ago 34

CONOR McGREGOR’S coach admitted he feared for the UFC legend’s mental health during his absence from the octagon.

But head trainer John Kavanagh was put at ease after seeing a positive spike in McGregor’s training routine.

Conor McGregor in training for his UFC return[/caption]

Kavanagh said on The MMA Hour: “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.

“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.”

McGregor, 35, has been out of action since July 2021 when he broke his leg against Dustin Poirier, 34.

The Irishman expected to return in April amid rumours of headlining the historic UFC 300 card against American Michael Chandler, 37.

But UFC president Dana White appeared to pour cold water on the idea as he touted McGregor’s return for the summer instead.

It means the former two-weight champion has an even longer wait to finally get back in the cage and fight.

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Kavanagh said: “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.”