McGregor’s coach was talking on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh doesn’t want Khabib Nurmagomedov to receive a lengthy suspension following the incident that occurred at the end of UFC 229.
Kavanagh was a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he discussed the fight as well as the incidents that occurred both before and after the fight ended.
In the immediate aftermath of the main event, Dana White confirmed that three men were arrested by the police for attacking McGregor in the Octagon but they were soon released because the Dubliner refused to press charges.
On that note, Kavanagh said that what the Russian did wasn’t a big deal.
“It wasn’t that big a deal what Khabib did, it really wasn’t.”
Man @joerogan makes that look deceptively easy. Absolutely different when it's all live. Hopefully inbetween the stammering and searching for words it was somewhat enjoyable. Thankfully @LOCKloaded was on point!
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) October 8, 2018
Kavanagh also urged the Nevada State Athletic Commission to show some leniency towards the lightweight champion because he’s hoping for McGregor to get a rematch against the Dagestan fighter.
“I hope they’re lenient on him, not just so we can get the rematch, I love watching him fight for a start. I can stretch myself to understand his reactions.”
Whilst Kavanagh can understand and excuse the actions of Khabib, the SBG coach was annoyed with his team mates after they entered the Octagon to attack McGregor. Kavanagh also defended Dillon Danis – the man who Khabib made a beeline for in the crowd – during his chat on the Joe Rogan Experience.
“He actually didn’t say anything. I heard a few people saying that,” Kavanagh said.
“Now I watched it back and I seen he kind of beckoned him on. Just stupid end of fight stuff, I don’t think it justified that level of response. Maybe there was something else in the lead up, Dillon is a bit of a troll online, it was probably a build up other stuff.
“I can’t however stretch myself to understand the other guys’ reactions and what they did. For Khabib, he jumped the cage, it’s not the end of the world. In the cage when your man went in and hit him from behind, I can’t understand that.”
Aside from a discussion about the unseemly events at the end of the fight, the coach also discussed Khabib’s fighting skills, which surprised him during the fight. Unsurprisingly, that incredible punch in the second round that rocked McGregor was mentioned.
“The right hand in the second round was a cracker it was beautiful overhand right. It’s a staple wrestler’s but he generally doesn’t do it, but it was a great shot,” he said.
With regards to a pre-fight plan, Kavanagh confirmed that they wanted to tire Khabib out in the first two rounds and then start to land some shots in the third.
“Exactly, I think at the beginning the consensus was Conor knocks him out in the first or Khabib takes over from two on. For us to win the third round was probably a bit of a surprise to people. The Al Iaquinta fight, from round three on he wasn’t able to hit any take downs. So, we hoped we would have a go on round three, defend the take downs and start landing our shots, and that didn’t happen as well as we had hoped.
“Round four, he hit another great take down, made a mistake giving up the over hook, exposed our back and that’s all she wrote,” he told Rogan.
