John Kavanagh would “absolutely support” McGregor moving to 170lbs

Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh told the42 in his column that he would “absolutely support” a move to 170lbs to face Robbie Lawler at UFC 200 should McGregor beat dos Anjos at UFC 196.

He also spoke about the noticeable differences in McGregor during this camp due to not having to cut all the way down to 145lbs.

“You can definitely see the impact of that in Conor’s clinch exchanges with the heavier guys in training. He’s very skilful in the clinch but sometimes when he’s cutting down to featherweight he gets pushed around if he’s working with welterweights and above. But now, as well as having the skill, he’s got a more solid frame that can’t be moved around as easily. There’s been a very noticeable strength difference.”

“Speaking of welterweights, I’ve seen that rumours of Conor fighting Robbie Lawler for the 170lbs belt at UFC 200 on 9 July have been gathering momentum. It’s not something we have discussed specifically but after Conor wins the lightweight belt, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the next fight is for the welterweight belt.”

“If that’s what Conor wants to do, I’ll absolutely support that move. I think that would be fantastic. We’re already talking about making history in a few weeks, but can you imagine what it will be like if Conor is the champion in three weight classes by the summer?”

“He’s obviously already the featherweight champion but we haven’t thought about that recently as we’ve been totally focused on the lightweight belt. Once that’s out of the way, we’ll talk about what to do with the featherweight belt.”

“As time goes on, it’s harder to predict what will happen in the future. Conor has a sort of unusual body type in that even though he can make featherweight, he’s still a very big lightweight. Given some time, as well as a bit of strength and conditioning work, he could also be a force at welterweight. This is an interesting time.”