Conor McGregor's lethal hands will be 'a lot better' upon UFC return, coach John Kavanagh says

Compared to Floyd Mayweather inside a boxing ring, Conor McGregor’s hands looked … decent? Compared to MMA fighters, though, the UFC lightweight champion’s hands always have been his most dangerous weapons.

McGregor’s head coach, John Kavanagh, tells UK web site dailystar.co.uk that we can expect them to be even sharper upon his return to the octagon after devoting so much time this year strictly to improving his boxing.

“To be honest, some of the things we’ve come away with from the Mayweather fight, some of the (improvements), when would an MMA guy have a chance to take six months just to focus on one aspect of MMA?” Kavanagh said. “‘Never’ is the answer. They’re always trying to work on everything. But when he does return to the octagon, his hands are going to be a lot better than what they were. And I’m excited to see that.”

McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) fell short against Mayweather back in August, though he lasted nearly 10 rounds before succumbing via TKO. The last time we saw McGregor in an MMA fight was one year ago at UFC 205, where he picked apart Eddie Alvarez with his striking en route to a second-round TKO.

If McGregor looks even better than he did that night, then his next opponent – be it interim champ Tony Ferguson or Nate Diaz or whoever else – could be in for a long night.

Kavanagh also made it clear that McGregor hasn’t forgotten about other aspects of his game.

“You know, I was rolling with him two weeks ago, and I was wondering how his jiu-jitsu would be. And I was very annoyed that he took my back and choked me,” Kavanagh said. “So he hasn’t lost too much there. Of course, he has to tighten up there before he goes to fight in the octagon again. But he really does love grappling.

“Even in the lead-up to the Mayweather fight, he would still kind of ask you about wrestling or jiu-jitsu. And he’d say, ‘Hey, look at this.’ I know it’s in his head all the time, although he wasn’t physically training it. I know mentally he’s still thinking about it.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, visit the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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