There’s been much hand wringing and nail-biting from MMA fans over the future of megastar Conor McGregor in the sport. Will he ride off into the sunset, pockets stuffed with million dollar bills from this summer’s Floyd Mayweather fight, never to be seen again? Will he Billionaire Strut his way out of our lives?
His long-time MMA coach John Kavanagh assuaged fans fears today, stating the Notorious one should be back in the cage, defending his UFC Lightweight Championship, before our calendars read 2018.
In the column he pens for Irish site The 42, Kavanagh says he fully expects McGregor to step back into the UFC’s octagon, sooner rather than later.
“Many of the questions I’ve been receiving over the past week have focused on when Conor will fight in the UFC again,” Kavanagh writes. “My expectation is that it will happen this year, although it’s always difficult to predict what Conor is going to do next.”
There’s the caveat – McGregor is unpredictable, so even one of the people closest to him – Coach Kavanagh – doesn’t truly know for sure if McGregor will return to mixed martial arts.
“If he goes in there and knocks out Mayweather in the first round, there will probably be talk of rematches and stuff like that,” Kavanagh continues. “But the tentative plan, as I see it, is certainly for a fight in the UFC in December.”
So 155-pound UFC contenders eyeing a title shot (and the profile bump that a bout with McGregor brings), speak now or forever hold your peace.
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