UFC: Michael Bisping says Conor McGregor ‘should fire John Kavanagh immediately’ if coach ‘truly wasn’t concerned’
- McGregor’s coach feels fight against Dustin Poirier ‘was going fantastic’ until the Irishman broke his leg in final seconds of first round
- ‘That was very concerning. You were on your back getting dominated, and it was a 10-8 round,’ former middleweight champ Bisping says
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping believes Conor McGregor should fire John Kavanagh “immediately” if his coach “truly wasn’t concerned” during Saturday night’s UFC 264 main event.
“It was a very, very unfortunate ending,” Bisping told BT Sport. “Probably fortunate for Conor, though, let’s be honest. Of course he’s in hospital now and he had to get operated on, and that’s not good.
“But in terms of Conor McGregor, in terms of the machine and the fan base he has, and a narrative to twist the situation, just like his coach John Kavanagh has this morning … he said, ‘Oh, I saw nothing that concerned me, I knew that in the second round we would get the knockout, nothing that I saw in there concerned me at all’.
“Well, if that’s true, John Kavanagh, Conor should fire you immediately, because that was very concerning. You were on your back and you were getting dominated, and it was a 10-8 round.
“That’s concerning. You don’t wanna get your arse kicked, simple as that, and that’s what was happening. Now the leg break was unfortunate, but as I say it gives McGregor an excuse or a reason why the fight ended. But if that didn’t happen, I mean, come on.”
Kavanagh had made the comments in an Instagram Live with Laura Sanko for Wimp 2 Warrior, after McGregor underwent a three-and-a-half hour surgery to fix his tibia and fibula on Sunday.
“It was going fantastic, I thought he looked really, really good in there. I wasn’t concerned at all,” Kavanagh said. “At the 4:30 mark or even the 4:45 mark [of round one], everything is gravy.
“I thought energy looked good, technique looked good. A few adjustments in between rounds, and I thought round two we were well on track to getting a finish there, or keep the rhythm going for the rest of the fight. Credit to Dustin. He won. It’s an unfulfilling end to the night. It doesn’t feel properly finished. No closure.”
