John Kavanagh, the head coach of UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor, has revealed how he was told McGregor would be fighting Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
On Monday, Kavanagh appeared on The MMA Hour and revealed the test message he received from McGregor letting him know he was actually going to fight Mayweather in a boxing match.
“He just said, ‘The man has made a grave error. This is going to be Bruce Lee (expletive). This is water becoming the cup,’” Kavanagh said.
“First of all, I read that and I went, oh, the Mayweather fight is actually on. I didn’t quite believe it until then, so that blew me away, and my brain starts racing, ‘okay, I’ve got to put certain wheels into motion.’
“But I don’t think it was until a couple of weeks later, or maybe days later, that I kinda read again and I realized what he was saying about the Bruce Lee water quote. That the ruleset might change and the strategy will change, but the fundamentals remain the same. This is something my own coach has told me a long, long time ago — Matt Thornton — that if you take an MMA fighter and you put him in a kickboxing match or a wrestling match, or a self-defense situation, the rules of engagement certainly change and that will affect your strategy, but the fundamentals of timing, of distance, of range, of how to hit hard, different striking techniques, they will remain the same.”
McGregor will fight Mayweather on Aug. 26 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
