Issue 129

June 2015

It might feel as though John Kavanagh and his Irish fight team have been an overnight success, but it’s been a lengthy journey to the top

JOHN KAVANAGH

Straight Blast Gym Ireland Head Coach

As he made his way out to the Octagon with Conor McGregor for the main event of UFC Fight Night 46, John Kavanagh couldn’t help but let a wide grin creep across his face. There he was, working the corner of his young protégé in the UFC’s first show in Dublin, Ireland, since UFC 93 in 2009.

Five years had passed since the promotion’s inaugural visit to the Irish capital and its return was a highly-anticipated affair. The atmosphere inside The O2 Arena was electric and the crowd’s chants were so loud eardrums were lucky to stay intact. And there, standing in the middle of it all, was Kavanagh, soaking it all in.

His students, Patrick Holohan, Gunnar Nelson, Cathal Pendred and McGregor, all earned wins on that momentous night, and, looking back on it, Kavanagh admits watching them succeed on the big stage was the accumulation of years of hard work.

“Being a part of that event was basically 20 years of effort,” the 38-year-old explains to Fighters Only. “To have been quite largely responsible for the UFC coming back to Ireland, and having four of my guys win and have stoppages on the night, and getting to walk out with Conor, it was all just incredible.

“Everybody who has meant something to me, people who have been with me since day one and have seen what I’ve been through to get to where I am, they were all there that night. And then to have it play out like a specially-written movie was just great. I don’t know if it can ever be equaled, even if we win the belt.”

And while that Dublin fight night might have been the zenith of Kavanagh’s martial arts journey so far, it certainly wasn’t the beginning. It all started when his father took him to a martial arts class, and a four-year-old Kavanagh became enamored with the idea of being a martial artist. 

And it was cemented 14 years later when he first watched UFC 1 on VHS and realized there were skills he could use in a fight, despite previously having some doubts.

“UFC 1 was just a huge eye-opener for me because I liked martial arts training as it was fun, but I didn’t think it would work in a fight,” he explains. “I wasn’t all that convinced it would be good for self-defense. 

“But when I saw Royce Gracie beating up all those big guys, I thought that MMA training would be ideal for defending myself. And that’s when my training mind-set changed from just doing it for fun to doing it because I believed, for the first time, it would actually work in a fight.”

However, for him to follow in the footsteps of Royce and learn jiu-jitsu, Kavanagh had to travel far and wide to obtain the depth of knowledge he now imparts on his students.

“I had to figure out moves as I went along in the beginning,” he says. “I actually traveled to London to go to a seminar with Jean-Jacques Machado, and that was my first time actually being in the same room as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. I thought it was incredible.

“The following year, I went over to LA to train at his academy, where him and Rigan Machado were training together. In the beginning there was just a lot of experimentation. I’d be rolling with guys there, watching tapes of Royce Gracie in slow motion, and wrapping my little brother up and bending him until he screamed (laughs).”

After years of studying and competing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and other combat sports, Kavanagh began training others in Ireland, including McGregor, Pendred, Holohan, Nelson and Aisling Daly. But despite the success they’ve achieved recently, Kavanagh admits it has taken a long time for them to get to their current levels.

“For whatever reason, I just so happened to get this group of guys to join at the same time, and we all had a similar mentality,” he explains. “We were all a little bit obsessive and went into our training with a similar approach. We’ve been working away at it for a very, very long time, and, thankfully, we’ve now been put on a stage where we’re able to showcase our skills to people. 

“Obviously, Cage Warriors has been a great platform for us, and it got us on the TV. Then the calls came for Gunnar Nelson and Conor to fight in the UFC, and since then my fighters have really shone.”

The next big step for Kavanagh is preparing McGregor for his upcoming world title fight against José Aldo on July 11th at UFC 189. And while he knows what Aldo can do, he’s more than confident McGregor will leave Las Vegas with the belt around his waist. 

“There are two types of guys who go into the UFC,” he explains. “There are guys who are coming up through the ranks and are still learning their trade, and then you’ve got guys who were born to fight at UFC level. They’re ready to contend for the title and Conor’s one of them.

“He’s had experience on the European circuit and had a lot of experience going into the UFC. He’s dealt with ups and downs during training and competing, so he went to the UFC as the full package. I think Conor could have fought for the belt in his first fight and still won it. Now he’s experienced in the Octagon, won five fights there – and he’s even more dangerous.”