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John Kavanagh, or 'Coach Kavanagh' as he is known to most, spoke yesterday to the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) about how he goes about preparing his students physically and mentally for combat.



As head coach at the Straight Blast Gym in Dublin, Kavanagh coaches a large pool of up and coming and present stars of the Mixed Martial Arts circuit including Paddy Holohan, Aisling Daly and of course his star pupil, UFC Featherweight champion Conor McGregor.



Speaking to IMMAF.org about what makes McGregor special. Kavanagh told them: “Conor himself has that X-factor and charisma," but that he could replicate the physical and technical elements of his development.

Kavanagh stated that he works hard on building self-confidence within his pupils and that he uses positive reinforcement to encourage repetition, drilling and practice.

"The physical side is the easier side and the mental side is tougher,” said the SBG head coach.



Both McGregor and Kavanagh have long been advocates that training in MMA should be about dedication and not about pushing the body to the limits with gruelling, highly physical sparring sessions:



“I like that our message is about training smart rather than training hard," said Kavanagh.

"That’s a side of the sport that I’m very interested in and I educate myself on. I’m talking about sparring less, sparring more sensibly and with lighter contact in the gym."



"You’ve seen Conor talk about upgrading the software while keeping the hardware intact, and there’s videos of him with Ido Portal keeping the body healthy rather than lifting big weights and hitting each other hard."



Kavanagh then spoke about how his training techniques, which many have proclaimed to be revolutionary and innovative, are infact based on principals that have been practioned for over twenty years and that we only need to go look at an old Rickson Gracie film to evidence that:



"Anybody can watch Choke, it’s over twenty years old – an old documentary with Rickson Gracie getting ready for the All Japan Vale Tudo Open, and in it he’s doing all these drills that are very similar to the ones that Conor and Ido are doing."



He added: "As the saying goes there’s nothing new under the sun, but it’s nice that someone with Conor’s platform is rejuvenating the message, again giving the message of looking after your body and keeping healthy."

John Kavanagh's next student to enter the UFC Octagon will be Artem Lobov when he takes on Alex Smith at UFC 196 on February 6th in Las Vegas Nevada. The full interview with the IMMAF can be found HERE.

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