JOHN KAVANAGH got warmed up for 2019 among close friends in Iceland.

But when he takes his 20-strong Bellator squad back to the Nordic country in a few weeks, it will be to ensure they are cold-blooded enough to take care of business on February 23.

3 John Kavanagh will bring a 20-strong Bellator squad to Iceland for training

The SBG head coach is likely to be one of the busiest men at the 3Arena, where 13 of his fighters do battle as the American MMA promotion returns to these shores.

Leading the gym’s charge will be Tyrone man James Gallagher (7-1), who fights Steven Graham (6-3) in the main event.

Waterford lightweight Peter Queally (11-4-1) is the SBG representative in the co-main, taking on ex-stablemate Myles Price (10-7) of Kilkenny.

Dubliner Kiefer Crosbie (5-0) flies the flag against Daniel Olejniczak, (3-2-1) of Poland at welterweight.

3 Kavanagh spent New Years Eve with Gunnar Nelson in the Nordic country

Kavanagh took a short breather to ring in the new year with another familiar SBG face, Icelandic MMA star Gunnar Nelson.

It was an opportunity for the engineering graduate to organise some logistics as he prepares to bring his crew to Nelson’s home gym, Mjolnir.

Kavanagh told SunSport: “It’s going to be a new record for me so far — I’m going to have 13 fighters on the card. That’s a huge undertaking but we’ve been training hard, took some time off over Christmas.

“Me and my girlfriend went to Iceland. Gunnar Nelson lives there. I’m very close with him, close with his father. We spent New Year’s Eve there, but while there we formalised a plan for doing two weeks’ training.

“I wanted to go over and sort out the nuts and bolts of getting accommodation, meals, speak with the airlines. We’ve everything sorted now. I’ll be bringing over the team that’s competing. There’s about 20 of us in all going over for the training camp. It’s going to be fantastic.

“The formal training camp begins this Monday. We’ll do four weeks in Ireland, then we’ll go to Iceland for two weeks. Everybody’s motivated, everybody’s pushing each other. Everybody wants to put on a great night and show the best of themselves and make the Irish fans proud.”

The Dublin native is leaving no stone unturned as he believes next month’s event represents a unique chance for home-based fighters.

Bellator did not put on an event in Ireland until late 2016 but signed up 16 fighters who are based here over the summer.

3 James Gallagher

Kavanagh is hoping the cream of the SBG crop can help demonstrate that the company’s commitment was a smart idea.

He added: It’s a huge event for Bellator and for Irish MMA. It’s got all the top Irish talent on it. This card will blow everything else out of the water that they’ve done here so far.

“This is going to be one of the biggest nights in Irish MMA history.”

Fans will be eager to see how bantamweight Gallagher bounces back from defeat.

He suffered a first-round KO to Ricky Bandejas in South Dakota last August.

‘The Strabanimal’, 22, had been 7-0 on the pro ranks prior to that loss, competing at featherweight.

And Kavanagh is backing his man to come good on home soil.

He said: “James has been incredibly mature and has taken all that you can in terms of positivity away from it. He’s seen that he has had to step up his training a bit as he starts going up towards real world-class standard opponents. He’s chomping at the bit to get back in there and start that climb up the ladder towards a world title.”

There is plenty of heat in the com-main event. Price once trained at SBG but is now at another Dublin gym, Team Ryano. And he recently spent time at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Diego, home of Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Queally labelled his rival a traitor for training with the Dagestani ahead of his clash with Conor McGregor.

And while Kavanagh keeps his distance from that side of the business, he is expecting a cracking contest come fight night.

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He added: “I stand back from it. It’s great fun and it’s part of the fight game.

“It’s only going to heat up as time goes on. Two fighters at the top of their game and there’s a bit of a background story there too. This is one of the biggest fights in domestic Irish MMA history.”

l TICKETS are now on sale and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.ie and Bellator.com, as well as the 3Arena box office.