John Kavanagh has coached Conor McGregor throughout his famed MMA career and so he was understandably ‘devastated’ by the superstar’s swift TKO loss due to an injury in his rematch with Max Holloway at UFC 329 on Saturday night.

“Devastated,” Kavanagh wrote on Facebook. “That opening jump switch kick was drilled daily for months, multiple times in warmup. Never an issue. Knee went when he [threw] the very first kick. Doesn’t get any worse than this. Looking forward to seeing my family in a few days.”

Kavanagh’s words are backed up by the UFC’s own footage of McGregor training backstage before the fight, in which he’s seen throwing the same jumping roundhouse kick multiple times without issue.

At this stage the extent of McGregor’s injury has yet to be established, with an MRI being planned for sometimes this week, but the suspicion is that he’s either tore his ACL, or damaged his meniscus.

The latter of those options could be the better outcome as recovery would take anywhere from four weeks to nine months depending on the severity, while a torn ACL could easily be 6-12 months.

Given that McGregor had already spent five years on the sidelines after suffering a broken leg in the Octagon back in 2021, and will turn 38-years-old tomorrow, another long road to recovery could sorely test his resolve to get back into the Octagon again.

That being said, in the hours after the fight McGregor did post a message on social media stating that, “I will return.”