MMA trainer John Kavanagh has admitted he knew Conor McGregor had something special as soon as they met.
The famous coach has been working with Conor for over a decade, and revealed he knew Conor had something special and made it his job to keep Conor on the straight and narrow.
“It was pretty apparent form the beginning that he had something a bit different,” John told Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show.
“What you see is what you get with Conor, he’s a loud character….sometimes he’s a little arrogant.
When asked has he ever had to “reign” Conor in, John said Conor is always his own man.
“He is somebody in a very tough sport in a relatively short space of time, he could retire and be a multi-millionaire, so he’s obviously doing something right.”
John admitted the pair are like “ying and yang” but it’s always worked.
“Me and Conor have been at this for 10/11 years now, the first 5/6 years were really tough.
“It’s hard to stay motivated without money, but what always motivated us was the sport.
“He was 18/19 he was hitting that stage where there were distractions on the weekend but I saw something special in him and I kept reminding him of that,” John explained.
Meanwhile John opened up about why he went into martial arts in the first place – admitting he wanted to learn to defend himself after being attacked in front of his girlfriend.
“I was a bit of a nerdy kid, I wasn’t really that good at any sports to be honest, I was just the quiet guy in school,” he explained.
After spotting someone being beaten up John jumped in to help and ended up being the one “dropped”.
“There was physical scars but it was the mental stuff, getting beaten up in front of your girlfriend…it was just the humiliation of being beaten up in front of your girlfriend,” he explained.
“It was at least six or seven months after I left the house again, I guess I fell into depression.
“I started to defend myself and that’s how I got into the UFC and martial arts,” he added.
John’s debut book Win Or Learn is available now.
