Conor McGregor: Khabib Nurmagomedov fight 'just made sense' - head coach John Kavanagh
JOHN KAVANAGH knew Conor McGregor would face Khabib Nurmagomedov as soon as he defeated Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title.
McGregor dismantled and destroyed Alvarez in 2016 at UFC 205, and became the first simultaneous two-weight UFC champion.
After that, he decided to switch to boxing, and took on Floyd Mayweather Jr.
He was knocked out by Mayweather, before taking some time off, returning to the octagon to face Khabib, who had claimed the lightweight strap whilst McGregor was away.
Kavanagh, McGregor’s head coach, admitted on the Joe Rogan podcast that he knew Khabib was an inevitable fight after he beat Alvarez.
“He’s always in the gym, but it was official about eight weeks out,” he told the Joe Rogan Experience.
“Even after the Eddie fight, I thought his next MMA fight would be Khabib.
“It just made sense.
“It was going to be [Nate] Diaz, but as time went on that became less and less likely.
“Khabib was doing great, kept on winning, so it was a path that was going to collide.”
McGregor and Khabib had an altercation at UFC 205, just moments before McGregor took to the stage to weigh-in.
The pair had to be separated by security, before Nurmagomedov used his post-fight interview to publicly call out McGregor.
He told Joe Rogan in the octagon “I want to fight you chicken.”
He also stopped his ground-and-pound to tell Dana White he wanted to fight McGregor.
“Don’t send me more of your fake contract, I need real contract,” he said.
“You already know I deserve this so send real contract and I will go finish this fight.”