John Kavanagh Says Conor McGregor Is Hungry Again, Expects Him In The Octagon This Year

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John Kavanagh, the head coach at SBG Ireland, claims that Conor McGregor is hungry again and fans could potentially see him make his long-awaited return to the Octagon by the end of the year.

McGregor last fought at UFC 229 in October against the lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. “The Eagle” dominated the Irishman for the entire fight before locking in a rear-naked choke in the fourth round and submitting “The Notorious.”

McGregor has taken time off from the sport to promote his Proper Twelve whiskey while also falling afoul of the law in an incident with a fan outside a Miami club. The 30-year-old announced his retirement from the sport earlier this year before redacting those comments and announcing he would fight again.

Kavanagh, who was a recent guest on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on ESPN, had previously stated that he wouldn’t be coaching McGregor in his return to fighting unless the former dual-division champion could provide a good reason for him to help him. Kavanagh clarified his comments with Helwani.

“I guess what I was really trying to say was I really want to see him motivated,” Kavanagh said. “And he probably said in the Tony Robbins interview where he spoke about losing that for a bit. And this is a game where it’s full-on, it’s full contact [and] it’s dangerous. When he won the second belt when he beat Eddie [Alvarez], he’d achieved everything he set out to achieve. He was very wealthy, he was world champion. So you’ve got to then take some time and think, well, what’s going to motivate you to do it anymore?

“He said himself that that became a bit of a problem,” Kavanagh added. “What is it? Is it getting another belt? Is it make some more money? And I think what has come back around is the love of the sport. He loves doing it, he loves training [and] he loves competing. And legacy, that he’s remembered being one of the best, if not the best ever. So that’s what’s really come back into him since the beginning of the year. That’s what I wanted to see. Because he’s obviously a very well-known student of mine, but he’s also somewhat like a kid brother. You wouldn’t want to see him doing something just for the sake of doing it and maybe getting hurt or whatever because he’s not fully there. But now he absolutely is.”

Kavanagh was asked about McGregor’s return and was confident his star fighter could be back by the years end. The 2017 “World MMA Coach of the Year” also confirmed that McGregor is currently recovering from hand surgery after he suffered an injury sparring.