John Kavanagh opens up on Conor McGregor potentially vacating a title

With UFC 205 now just days away, fight fans have continued to question which title belt featherweight champion Conor McGregor will vacate if he emerges from his lightweight title fight with Eddie Alvarez victorious.

While UFC President Dana White has remained adamant that if McGregor wins, he must vacate one of the two title belts in order to prevent holding up either division, McGregor began by stating that it would take an army for the UFC brass to take one of the titles away from him. More recently, McGregor changed his tune, stating that before there are talks of him vacating a belt, he would like to make history by winning the fight, and appreciate the moment before shifting to those talks.

This month however, McGregor once again shifted his stance as he stated that he doesn’t see why he can’t hold both titles given how active he has been in the UFC.

Now, SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh has given some info on McGregor’s mentality regarding potentially giving up one of the belts, saying in an interview on The MMA Hour:

“I have not heard a hint of him giving up the belt,” McGregor said. “He has never said to me, ‘Oh, I’m gonna hand back the 45 or the 55.’ Any time I’ve heard him talk about it, he’s been very clear, very loud, very vocal about saying he fights very often. Look how close he is from fighting, literally just a couple of months ago. It’s not unusual for a champion to defend the belt once a year or twice a year.”

“So, why not?

While many members of the MMA community believe McGregor will never return to featherweight, Kavanagh doesn’t think that’s necessarily the case:

“[Featherweight] for him now I believe would be easier than what 45 for him was when we did it for let’s say his first two or three fights in the UFC,”

“Now because of the type of people we have involved, I don’t see the physical problem with it,” Kavanagh said. “I won’t lie and say it’s not easier for 55.

“If a 45 fight came along and he was like, ‘I have to do this,’ I’d be behind it.”