If it wasn't for the €10,000 that Conor McGregor gave her at the beginning of her career, who knows where Sinead Kavanagh may have ended up.
After a series of tragic events that included the death of the father of her child and her mother being involved in a life-changing car crash that claimed the lives of Sinead’s Aunt and Uncle, Kavanagh found herself homeless for a period of almost six years in her 20’s.
After years of grinding on the amateur boxing scene, the Inchicore native transitioned to MMA. On February 25th, she takes on Janay Harding in a huge bout at Bellator 291 in the 3Arena, but it wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for McGregor’s extraordinary show of generosity.
READ MORE: Conor McGregor opens up on 'trauma' of collision as he details treatment
“The man sponsored me then, he gave me €10,000," said Kavanagh about McGregor.
"Like, I had the young fella and I was on the dole. I literally had no money, I was F***ing homeless. It was rough.
“He gave me €10,000 to keep me going. At the time, I was just amazed at how generous he was.
“He does so much for charity and for people in need, or people that might need surgeries and stuff like that.
“You only ever see ‘the bad Conor,’ but there’s so much good that man does. People are just negative and just focus on the bad.”
Crossing paths with ‘The Notorious’ was a rare slice of good fortune in a life that for a long time was bereft of luck.
Be it inside the cage or in regular life, things just seem to have a way of conspiring against her. Take her last fight in Dublin almost exactly a year ago. Within a minute, Kavanagh had suffered a catastrophic knee injury.
But with all she’s been through, it would take much more than a mere torn ACL and MCL to break her will.
“It adds onto it. You do be like, ’can I get a break, no?' That’s what it does. I’m kind of used to stuff going on the wrong path.
“But I’m mentally strong so I can get through the tough times.”
She did much more than just get through the fight. She lasted the full 15 minutes and was awarded the unanimous decision win by all three judges.
Her opponent on that occasion was Leah McCourt. A longtime friend and training partner, Kavanagh admits that it was a ‘strange’ occasion.
Hyped as one of the biggest Irish bouts in MMA history, the fight put a strain on the friendship.
“It was very strange, the whole build-up was strange, but we knew that was going to happen in the end. That’s just the fight game. It was one to remember for sure. We just had to put everything to one side and just do what we do.
“I think there’s a little animosity there,” she says with a laugh.
“But we have talked since the fight just to congratulate each other. I haven’t really seen her since.
“I saw her at her own fight and I was cheering her on but yeah, that was it.”
As she says herself, that’s the fight game.
And no-one knows this game better than Kavanagh, who began her journey as a boxer long before she ever set foot inside and MMA Cage.
Just getting a club to take her in was a struggle in itself.
“I went to a boxing club but they weren’t taking women at the time and I was told to ‘F-off.’
“I remember running down the road crying."
When she finally got going, Kavanagh quickly emerged as one of the best talents in Ireland. Twice, she represented Ireland at World Championships, and can count Katie Taylor amongst her teammates at the time.
The Bray Bomber’s unparalleled success comes as no surprise to Kavanagh, who knew Taylor was destined for greatness well over a decade ago.
“She was (great) already. She was World and European Champion back then. So she had that champion mindset at the time. You knew she was special.”
Kellie Harrington was also on the scene back then and in the past couple of months, the 2020 Olympic Champion has claimed that Taylor received preferential treatment during her amateur days.
Head of the IABA back then was Taylor’s father Pete, who has refuted Harrington’s claims and entered into a war of words with the 33-year-old.
Having fought and trained alongside both women in that International environment for many years, Kavanagh is ideally placed to give her take on the controversy.
“Kellie didn’t have anything bad to say about Katie, it was about her Dad. It wasn’t about Katie, she had nothing to do with it."
“It was about the auld fella being in charge of women’s boxing and not letting certain people in the door.”
Either way, Kavanagh found herself rapidly falling out of love with boxing, citing the 'politics' of it all as a reason for her departure.
With superstars like Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg blossoming in the burgeoning world of women's MMA, Kavanagh didn't have to look far to find her true calling in life.
She rocked up to Straight Blast Gym, home of the Notorious McGregor, and introduced herself to the Godfather of Irish MMA and SBG head honcho John Kavanagh.
There was one catch - she hadn't two pennies to rub together.
"I was like ‘John, I’ve no money, I can’t afford to train, but I want to be a professional.’
"And he was like ‘Ok, you can clean the mats and let's work from there."
She got straight to work honing her skills. She says it took three years for her to really get a grip of jiu-jitsu, and from there, things finally began to fall into place.
Today, she sits in third place in the Bellator Featherweight rankings. She's won three of her last four fights, with that sole defeat coming at the hands of the legendary Cyborg in a world title fight.
Next up is Janay Harding. The talented Kiwi fought Kavanagh once before way back in 2018.
The New Zealander got the win in controversial circumstances, and Kavanagh is eager to right that wrong.
“I fought Janay before and I got cut and then the cut-man was a cowboy, and he got the sack afterwards and that cost me the fight.
"It’ll be interesting now."
*****
Tickets to BELLATOR 291: Amosov vs. Storley 2, taking place at Dublin’s 3Arena on Saturday, February 25, are available from Ticketmaster.ie and Bellator.com
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