Conor McGregor made his professional boxing debut back in August. For the fight, McGregor faced off against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a highly anticipated cross-promotional match up. Still, the undefeated pugilist legend earned a TKO victory over “Notorious.” Now McGregor is preparing for an eventual return to the octagon.
Speaking to The Daily Star, SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh revealed that he believes McGregor will be returning to the world of mixed martial arts with a new level of striking.
“When would an MMA guy have a chance to take six months just to focus on one aspect of MMA? Never is the answer, they’re always trying to work on everything. But when he does return to the Octagon, his hands are going to be a lot better than what they were. And I’m excited to see that.”
Speaking on the fighter’s grappling, Kavanagh added:
“You know, I was rolling with him two weeks ago and I was wondering how his jiu-jitsu would be. And I was very annoyed that he took my back and choked me. So he hasn’t lost too much there. Of course, he has to tighten up there before he goes to fight in the Octagon again. But he really does love grappling.
“Even in the lead up to the Mayweather fight, he would still kind of ask you about wrestling or jiu-jitsu, and he’d say, ‘hey, look at this’. I know it’s in his head all the time although he wasn’t physically training it. I know mentally he’s still thinking about it.”
