John Kavanagh: “It’s like an MMA university, and my guys are the nerds”

It seems like every couple of months John Kavanagh is asked whether he is about to mark ‘the biggest night’ of his career.

After his SBG charges went 4-0 in Dublin with Conor McGregor claiming victory at the top of the card, next Sunday will see another event with three of his products in action – this time in the North American home of the Irish Diaspora, Boston, Massachusetts.

Not only that, with McGregor looking at a shot at Jose Aldo’s featherweight title if he claims victory over fellow European, Dennis Siver, the stakes have never been so high for the Irish coach.

“It’s another SBG Fight Night, sponsored by UFC,” he laughed. “I met the first fan today outside the hotel, I guess they’re starting to come in. I signed a tri-colour for him, but I expect the real circus to come into town around Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Judging by the rapturous welcome that McGregor received the first time he performed in Boston in August 2013 against Max Holloway, Kavanagh hit the nail on the head referring to the fanfare around the featherweight as a ‘circus’ this time around.

The first Boston outing was one of the only times the SBG head coach has admitted to being slightly overwhelmed by a crowd, but Kavanagh is confident that he will be ready for the roar of the TD Garden when he makes his way to the Octagon beside the surging featherweight contender this time around.

“When I think about what it was like a year and a half ago, which I believe was his second fight for UFC, the reception we got was crazy. We were on the preliminary card, we got the blackout treatment and the whole stadium went crazy. That was a year and a half ago,” he remembered.

“Now we’re in the same arena and we’re the main event. I’m already mentally preparing myself for the roar when we walk out. I think it could be even crazier than it was in Dublin.

“I’m getting a little bit more used to it now. It’s like anything, the first time you experience something it affects you a lot more. That first time we walked out in Boston it caught me off guard, it did, I had never experienced anything like that before.

“Since then we’ve had the Vegas walk out and the Dublin walkout so I’m a little better prepared, but I still think it’s going to be something special.”

The Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt indicated that although there is more on the line than ever for ‘The Notorious’ heading into Sunday’s main event, there was no real change in his preparation for this upcoming contest.

“Not particularly, he’s always going to be put 100 percent effort in,” Kavanagh explained of McGregor. “Whether he’s fighting on a local show with just 200 people watching or it’s the biggest UFC event of all time, he’s always going to give it everything he has. It’s like it always is – there is no opponent, and I would add to that, there is no show – it’s just business as usual.”

Speaking on Cathal Pendred’s bout against Sean Spencer, Kavanagh outlined why he believes the American could be the perfect man to draw another finishing performance from his Boston-born welterweight.

“It’s always difficult to fight someone that wants to stay on the back-foot and is happy enough just to counter, it’s hard to get a rhythm going,” commented Kavanagh on Pendred’s last outing against Gasan Umalatov.

“That was a tough one for Cathal, but when you look at the tape for this guy it would appear as though he is going to look to meet Cathal in the middle and they’re both going to be looking to finish each other, that’s always an exciting fight.

“As far as him breaking into the rankings, I’m not too worried about looking into the future and thinking about where we’re going to be next year. I just know that he’s as prepared as he can be for Sunday night, he’s going to go in and put on a show and I think he’s going to put this guy away.

“Sean Spencer has a great style for Cathal. So let’s get in there and get the first round stoppage, either by knockout or submission, and then we can move on to the next one. We’re in no rush,” he smiled.

Despite ‘JK’ not watching film of Shane Howell in the lead up to him facing Paddy Holohan, given the evolution he has witnessed in ‘The Hooligan’ since picking up his first loss in October, he is very confident of a win for the Tallaght man.

He said: “I’ll be 100 percent honest and tell you that I haven’t actually seen Shane fight, I don’t even know what his record is, but that’s interesting you telling me that – my ears pricked up when you said he was open to submissions. I might pop on to UFC Fight Pass and have a quick look at him after this chat.

“For Paddy, I think it’s been somewhat of a relief to let go of that ‘0’, and I think he’s approaching the game with a new gust of wind behind him in that step up, he’s trying new things now. He was kind of doing what he always was doing because he was undefeated, but now that he’s got that first loss, it’s opened up to a lot of new things.

“It’s like we say to the kids that train in our place, ‘you either win or you learn’, and Paddy really has been learning. I’m excited to see him in this one.”

Various commentators have suggested that the growth of McGregor’s game, namely the addition of taekwondo techniques and karate style blitzing attacks, could be the next, dominant style utilised in MMA. Kavanagh believes that such technical breakthroughs can only be made in a learning environment and forecasts us witnessing the next level in Holohan’s game when he meets Howell:

“A lot of guys can fall into the routine of just sparring hard a couple of times a week and leaving it at that whereas I pride myself on creating a learning environment. It’s like an MMA university and my guys are the nerds that stay back and do extra classes and extra study.

“The Dublin performance by Paddy was no surprise to me because I’ve seen him do it so many times in the gym, but he’s starting to evolve even more so now and we can see that in the competition environment. I believe we’re going to see another step up in his skillset on Sunday night.”

Asked if he believed that all Irish fighters could come away with victory on the night, including Norman Parke, the SBG man said: “Come on, you know it’s on the cards.”

When the subject of Croke Park was broached, Kavanagh was quite clear in pointing to a “high possibility” of a stadium show pitting McGregor against Aldo if the Crumlin man takes victory on Sunday night.

“It’s a funny one, because we’re always asked to project into the future and we’re asked for answers. We give the answers and then you see comments online, ‘oh they’re overlooking their next opponent’, just because we’re talking about the future.

“But it’s because we’re asked about the future that we must give an answer. To answer your question, it’s no big secret that that there’s a high possibility that if we put on a good performance on Sunday night, it’s Conor and Aldo in one of these major stadiums.

“Do I know a date or do I know anything 100 percent? No is the short answer to that question, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t happen. I know the guys want it to happen, but we’ve landed a satellite on comet. I imagine that’s a lot trickier than putting a roof on an arena for a fight, so I don’t see why that won’t happen,” he said.

Kavanagh has been quite vocal in his confidence when it comes to Sunday’s main event. The Irish coach broke down why he believes the fight might not have legs outside of the first exchange when McGregor and Siver engage.

“Just the way Siver went down when Cub caught him, he’s been around for so long. He fought one of my guys Arni Isaksson a long time ago before this in an eight man tournament in Liverpool and he’s been fighting and sparring hard since then.

“He’s on the slip, he’s on the way out and then you add to that the fact that this is just a terrible matchup for him. He’s against a power striker that’s about two foot taller than him. I think he’s lost his ability to take shots and he doesn’t really have an aggressive shot on him where he can close distance explosively and go for a single or double leg. I just think that first exchange will be too much for him.

“Siver is good when he gets into the clinch, he’s a very powerful man, but he doesn’t have an Edgar-esque shot. He doesn’t shoot from the outside, he’s more striking and then into the clinch. Cub doesn’t have the one punch devastation that Conor does, Siver is not going to be able to walk through Conor’s first punch to get the clinch.

“It’s not disrespectful to state a fact, he will not be able to take that shot against Conor in order to establish the clinch. That’s the major difference between facing Conor or Cub.”

With McGregor revealing that he would have preferred to face Nik Lentz at the Boston event in an interview with Severe MMA in late November, Kavanagh insisted his student’s preference is not based on ‘appeasing’ people who think he will run into trouble against a wrestler.

“Conor doesn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone’s opinion, so he was not looking to fight a certain style to appease a group of fans that will never be appeased anyway. No matter who he beats they’re always going to suggest, ‘well he hasn’t fought insert random style here’, much the same as the way Jon Jones can’t seem to do anything right even though he continues to beat everyone.

“That’s not the point, it’s just he enjoys the competition of fighting different styles. But look, he’s got this fight on Sunday and then he’ll have Aldo after that and then he’s going to be still around. He’ll get to face all of these guys.

“That’s the great thing, we’re in the golden era of MMA where all the best fighters are under the same organizations and everyone is fighting for that top prize. He’ll get to face all these people, it’s just a matter of time.”

Finally Kavanagh expressed what SBG Ireland’s nomination for ‘Gym of the Year’ and the upcoming World MMA Awards meant to him:

“That was a pretty surreal thing to see. I still remember the days of starting out in a shed with 10 people and now to have my gym listed beside ATT and Blackhouse, it’s great. We’re the only European team that’s getting a mention alongside these guys.

“It was nice little moment to take a deep breath and give myself a pat on the back but now it’s time to get the hell on with it and get on to the next fight.”

@PetesyCarroll