Conor McGregor has heaped praise on coach John Kavanagh after he guided teammate Sinead Kavanagh to an impressive win over Leah McCourt.
McGregor was in attendance at the 3Arena in Dublin to support the No.5-ranked Bellator featherweight, where he also reunited with long-time trainer Kavanagh for the first time since his last UFC fight with Dustin Poirier.
And after the Bellator star managed to survive a severe second-round knee injury to take an impressive decision against No.4-ranked McCourt, McGregor was keen to defend the oft-criticised coach Kavanagh.
A number of fans and experts have called the Dubliner's training methods into question in recent months, but McGregor believes Kavanagh's win was indicative of the SBG Ireland supremo's coaching strengths.
Kavanagh managed to not only win the contest, but almost submitted the jiu-jitsu black belt McCourt despite coming from a boxing background.
"That was flawless," McGregor told Mirror Fighting after carrying Kavanagh to the changing rooms following her win. "That's John's coaching.
"Who's the grappler? She swept her with the Kimura sweep, then the reversal against the fence.
"That's coach Kavanagh, and he's coaching Sinead Kavanagh! Back in the win column."
And McGregor insisted that both he and his teammate will be on the hunt for gold when they step back into the cage later this year.
The Irishman has been out since last July with a broken leg suffered in his trilogy bout against Poirier at UFC 264, but appears to be on the mend and will return to sparring in April.
"I've been back," McGregor insisted. "I never went nowhere.
"Sinead's back in the title picture now, where's that belt? Where's that Bellator belt?"
Coach Kavanagh was heavily criticised after McGregor's loss to Poirier, where he said that he felt had the injury not occurred that the Irishman would have won in the second round.
And he was again under fire after Johnny Walker's second consecutive UFC loss to Jamahal Hill earlier this month.
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But when speaking with Mirror Fighting back in December, the renowned trainer was unfazed by some of the harsher criticisms levelled against him, particularly from the likes of former champion Michael Bisping.
"I would take criticism from anybody, that's very important," Kavanagh explained while speaking at a fundraiser for injured MMA fighter Ian Coughlan.
"I wouldn't say I was hurt, I wasn't going, 'Oh no Bisping said something', that's his opinion and everybody is welcome to their opinion.
"I'm always self-critical but if I'm being 100 per cent honest, it'll be the people closest to me saying something - I have a lot of very honest people around me - that'll be what makes me really stand up and think.
"Dustin Poirier can go out and lose to Charles, or get finished quicker than Conor did against Khabib, and nobody asks why he's still with American Top Team or says he has no grappling."
