Conor McGregor's coach John Kavanagh Q&A: What was it like training with Will Smith?

UFC star Conor McGregor could be a great coach in the future but should return to action in 2022, says his long-term coach John Kavanagh.

Irishman McGregor, 33, has not fought since breaking his leg in his bout with Dustin Poirier in July.

When Kavanagh sat down with BBC Sport to answer fans' questions, many were about McGregor, who he says is a great teacher.

"I'm hoping he'll fall into that role. He is a fantastic coach," he said.

"Back in the day, he used to take my boxing classes.

"It wasn't that long ago and he was walking through the gym and there was a beginner boxer class starting. He just walked in and went: 'Oh, I'll take this class today.'

"You could see everybody just froze and he spent an hour and a half on the mat with absolute beginners trying to perfect their jab. It was pretty amazing to watch."

Training with the Fresh Prince of Bel Air

As well as McGregor, Kavanagh answered questions about why the one-two combination in MMA should be avoided, and which fighters he would love to go on a night out with.

The coach has built an MMA empire - SBG, at his base in Dublin - and his reputation has grown so much that he was asked to train with movie star Will Smith.

"That was a weird situation that popped up," he said of the link-up in Dubai.

"I've got a warrior programme and I put him through a typical session. I was super impressed with him. Probably my favourite part was that we mimicked an MMA fight.

"I'm sitting by his side just like I would when I'm cornering a fighter and giving him advice in the ear.

"I really try to get them in the mindset of a fighter. While I was doing that, Will was hunched over, very focused, staring into space.

"I thought: 'Oh my god, this is the guy who played Muhammad Ali. This is a scene from that movie.'

"It was one or two seconds of: 'What the hell is going on with my life! How did this happen? Fresh Prince of Bel Air here, Muhammad Ali and he's tuned into everything I'm saying.'"

Your questions answered…

When will Conor McGregor's next MMA fight be?

"No dates yet. I know he's back into full strength and conditioning-type training and doing some padwork.

"I was going to go out to him in January, but he told me he's going to be in Ireland in January so we'll get back into martial arts training in January.

"Let's do a couple weeks, make sure everything is holding up and then set a date."

What was it like training Will Smith?

"That was a weird situation that popped up. I was in Dubai training with Conor and his people were on to my people, as they say. Would I be interested in doing a session with Will Smith? Absolutely I would. I'm a massive fan, I couldn't believe it.

"I got to go out to an incredible sport complex out there. I've got a warrior programme and I put him through a typical session. I was super impressed with him.

"Probably my favourite part was that we mimicked an MMA fight. It's done on a punchbag. You'll see it on his documentary - which if he puts me in, I'm probably going to get 10 seconds.

"One of my favourite moments was that between rounds, he goes and sits down, just like a fighter would and I'm sitting by his side just like I would when I'm cornering a fighter and giving him advice in the ear.

"I really try to get them in the mindset of a fighter. While I was doing that, Will was hunched over, very focused, staring into space.

"I thought: 'Oh my god, this is the guy who played Muhammad Ali. This is a scene from that movie.'

"It was one or two seconds of: 'What the hell is going on with my life! How did this happen? Fresh Prince of Bel Air here, Muhammad Ali and he's tuned into everything I'm saying.'

"We had a great workout, we had a bit of fun afterwards. I didn't tell anyone about it - so when it went up, straight after, my mother's ringing me, my sister's ringing me."

Any tips for an MMA beginner?

"Consistency. Just show up. Don't try and do it all in the one day. Train 20 minutes or 30 minutes every day for six months, everything else will come along.

"I'm not massively concerned about their skill level, because you can give people that. What I can't give them is that ability to show up day in, day out."

Does Conor McGregor have any plans on joining you as a coach?

"He used to teach for me. Back in the day, he used to take my boxing classes.

"It wasn't that long ago and he was walking through the gym and there was a beginner boxer class starting. He just walked in and went: 'Oh, I'll take this class today.'

"You could see everybody just froze and he spent an hour and a half on the mat with absolute beginners trying to perfect their jab. It was pretty amazing to watch.

"So I'm hoping he'll fall into that role. He actually is a fantastic coach."

Is a one-two a bad combination to throw in MMA and why?

"It's such a common combination and it gets people into trouble a lot of the time.

"What I usually try to get the guys to do is not to finish on the back hand. If you finish on the back hand and you miss, you tend to be out of position, off balance and that's where you tend to get taken down or counter-hit.

"I would usually encourage my guys to go one-two and then back with one-one. Or one-two and then a three. Or a one-two and close into the clinch.

Is Conor McGregor the best striker you've worked with?

"Yes. Look at his fights. He's the cleanest striker I've ever seen. He has the dim mak, we call it, death touch. He just seems to touch people and they fall down.

"If it was possible to pass on, name any top boxing gym - all of their fighters would have one-touch knockout power and they don't. It just seems a rare gift bestowed on the few."

Is James Gallagher the best Jiu Jitsu practitioner to come out of SBG?

"He's right up there. We've had some pretty incredible grapplers with Gunnar Nelson coming through, so it's a tough pool. But he's definitely absolutely elite.

"I got to try with him recently and he showed me some of things he's changed and I was blown away. He's only improving as time goes on."

How much tape do you watch on a fighter?

"If you can get the past three fights… what you're really looking for is tendencies, but don't fall in love with studying tape either.

"One of the biggest examples I can give is that we were preparing Conor for Jose Aldo, who is a very good Muay Thai specialist. A few days before that fight, a world title fight, he swapped out for [Chad] Mendes, who is a short, compact wrestler.

"You could not get a bigger differential between those two styles of opponents. If we had been too obsessed with just preparing for Aldo, that would have been an impossible swap out, so focus on yourself more than your opponent."

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