John Kavanagh: Conor McGregor Will Not Cut To 145, Will Wait For LW Title Fight
Oh, how things can change in a matter of days.
Conor McGregor is on top of the world right now, a young man, who was once a prospect, turned into a king and is running the UFC’s lighter weight divisions. He’s already king of the featherweight division but is seeking to become a kind of the lightweight division.
McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh mentioned during his appearance on the MMA Hour this past week that he thinks McGregor will move up to lightweight and fight the winner of Rafael Dos Anjos – Donald Cerrone at UFC on FOX 17 in either March or April for the lightweight championship then defend his featherweight championship against Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. Kavanagh explained that following UFC 200, the UFC will give other fighters a chance to fight McGregor, but they’re going to have to be patient in order to fight him.
However, that has all changed. Kavanagh mentioned in his latest blog for the42.ie that McGregor will wait and fight for the lightweight title instead of fighting at featherweight next.
“Last weekend’s fight is now history, so I would appeal to Conor’s fans to show respect to Jose Aldo, who has been a great champion for many years. The fight was big, but it’s just sport at the end of the day. I know the build-up can sometimes make it seem bigger than that, but it’s not.
It was great to see so many fans on both sides getting behind their guy before and during the fight, but once the contest is done and dusted, the winning side should focus on praising the winner. Don’t spend any energy on slagging off the loser by sending horrible messages to him or his family.
Being badly knocked out like that is not a pleasant experience. Aldo needs time to recover from that and with what he has achieved in the sport at this stage, that’s the least he deserves.
It was the same after Ronda Rousey’s loss to Holly Holm. That’s a young lady who was kicked in the head, knocked out and embarrassed in front of the world. Use your energy to tweet congratulations to Holly Holm instead of creating a meme to ridicule Ronda.
What’s next for Conor? The lightweight belt. We’re going to take a little break from that cut down to 145lbs, even though this was one was the easiest so far. But in saying that, ‘easy’ is a relative term. It still requires a level of discipline that 99.9% of people wouldn’t have, never mind be able to compete as well the following day.
So the next step will be winning the title in the 155lbs division. The current champion, Rafael dos Anjos, defends the belt against Donald Cerrone tomorrow night. Regardless of who comes out on top, we’ve been given the green light to fight the winner.
We believe that’ll be in April, but I’m looking forward to this weekend’s fight too. I’ll be watching eagerly to see who it is. I’m expecting a close fight but if I was to bet — which I won’t — I’d say Rafael dos Anjos will win it.
If Frankie Edgar wants a shot at the featherweight title or Aldo wants a rematch, we’re fine with that too. But they’ll have to wait because that lightweight belt is next on the agenda.”
McGregor (19-2) is currently on a 15-fight winning streak. The UFC should make it official next week if McGregor is 100% getting a title shot for the lightweight title.
