John Kavanagh is the coach of former two division UFC champion Conor McGregor, who suffered a fourth round submission loss to UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.
Nurmagomedov would hop the Octagon fence and go after McGregor’s team after the fight, but Kavanagh can understand why the champion did what he did.
“I hope [The Nevada State Athletic Commission] is lenient on [Nurmagomedov],” said Kavanagh on The Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show. “Not just so we can get a rematch. I just love watching him fight. I can stretch myself to understand his reaction. I can’t stretch myself to understand [his teammates] reaction. For Khabib, it’s not the end of the world.”
The lightweight champion had his fight purse withheld by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for inciting a brawl, with more punishments potentially to follow.
McGregor teammate Dillon Danis has been accused of saying some disparaging thing at Nurmagomedov during the fight, which may be why the champion went after him when the fight concluded, but Kavanagh denies anything was said.
“[Danis] actually didn’t say anything,” said Kavanagh. “I was standing beside Dillon. I didn’t see what he did but I could hear. He didn’t say anything. When I watched it back I could see him beckon [Nurmagomedov] on. It’s just stupid end of fight stuff. But it didn’t justify that level of response. Maybe there was something else in the build up. Dillon is a little bit of trouble online. But, like I said, it wasn’t that big of a deal to me what Khabib did. It just really wasn’t.”
Danis has also denied saying anything to Nurmagomedov, but McGregor did say many things to the champion in the lead up to the title bout.
