Morning Report: McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh believes his reputation is at stake at UFC 202

One of the biggest fights in UFC history is less than two weeks away.

In 10 days, Nate Diaz will fight Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 202, a rematch from Diaz’s second-round submission victory over McGregor back in March. Though the fight is between two of the biggest stars in the UFC, it isn’t being fought for traditional stakes (though both men will be compensated handsomely); there is no belt on the line, no guaranteed title shot awaiting the winner. Instead this is prize fighting as its most pure – combat for money and pride. And not just the pride of the fighters, but of their teams too.

Recently, McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh wrote a column for The 42 about the upcoming fight and how it wasn’t just his pupil’s reputation on the line, but his as well.

“This is a very important fight for Conor, but I also feel that my own reputation as a coach is at stake. This contest can be a bit of a game-changer for us all. Some observers who are obsessed with weight classes and belts don’t see this as a very meaningful fight. They’re more interested in seeing Conor defend his featherweight belt and going after the lightweight strap too.

“But for me, we’re very lucky to be in a position to have an immediate rematch. In most cases, fighters have to be patient in order to get that chance. Having an opportunity to reverse an unfavorable result under the same circumstances just a few months later provides us with a chance to show that ‘Win or Learn’ isn’t just a catchy phrase.”

A win for McGregor next Saturday wouldn’t reverse his earlier loss to Diaz (that is never leaving his record), but it would seemingly put McGregor back on a path towards the lightweight title that he was on before being derailed by Diaz. The lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has been vocal in his desire to fight McGregor should he get past Diaz, but beating Diaz is a tall order. In their first encounter, Diaz came in on 10 days notice having not trained and still choked out McGregor in the second round. This time, Diaz will have a full fight camp to prepare.

However, Kavanagh believes this time they are much better suited to fighting Diaz. For this fight, Kavanagh and McGregor have started doing something they’ve never previously done for an opponent: actually prepare for him.

“There’s no comparing this training camp to any we have done previously. I can’t stress enough how different this has been. As many of you will probably already know, routine hasn’t been something you would have associated with Conor’s preparations in the past.

“Anyone who knows about the history of SBG Ireland will be aware that we were always regarded as the last-minute gym — the guys who would be ready to step in at short notice. Our mentality reflected that so all you can do in those circumstances is try to get your skillset to such a high level that the opponent doesn’t matter.

“I believe that worked well for us and the results were proof of that, but I also feel that when you’ve done that for so long, you can end up getting caught out against certain styles of opponent. This has provided us with an opportunity to experience the other method of extreme gameplanning and being very opponent-orientated.”

McGregor and his team like to be on the cutting edge of fight preparation. McGregor was the first (or at least the most prominent) fighter to employ a movement coach, hiring Ido Portal to train different ways of moving to attack opponents. This shift towards opponent oriented game-planning is just the latest example of McGregor’s team looking to new avenue’s for improvement and Kavanagh seems very confident that it will pay dividends.

“We’re …

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