Conor McGregor is training ‘almost every day’ and will fight in UFC ‘this year’ according to his head coach

Conor McGregor practices a judo throw on John Kavanagh at a UFC media day in 2015.Getty Images

• Cage fighter Conor McGregor is “training almost every day” and will return to UFC in 2018.
• That is, according to McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh, who confirmed that the fighter’s next move will be in UFC rather than in boxing.
• McGregor has not competed since his tenth round boxing rules loss to Floyd Mayweather.

Conor McGregor has returned to “regular training” and will return to UFC this year according to his head coach John Kavanagh.

Kavanagh knows McGregor better than most as he has trained the Irish fighter for over a decade at his Straight Blast Gym in Dublin.

“He’s back in training almost every day now and I think 2018 will be a big year for us,” Kavanagh told BBC Northern Ireland.

McGregor has not fought since his tenth round boxing rules loss to Floyd Mayweather in 2017 and has not competed in UFC since 2016.

Floyd Mayweather beat Conor McGregor up en route to a straight-forward tenth round win last year.Christian Petersen/Getty

In the time that McGregor has been away from the sport, two viable challengers have emerged who could threaten the 29-year-old’s lightweight championship title.

UFC president Dana White signposted a fight between McGregor and interim lightweight titleist Tony Ferguson last year, but Dagestani wrestler Khabib Nurmagomedov cannot be ignored as he is racking up win after win.

Kavanagh said he is “forming plans” regarding their next move in combat sports.

“Conor’s still the champion. I have his belt at home,” he said. “He’s making the decision on what makes sense for the next move — but it’s early days yet.”

One thing that’s for sure is that Kavanagh will be pushing McGregor to compete in the cage rather than the ring.

“Boxing was a nice detour from what we’ve done but mixed martial arts is my passion, so if I have anything to do with it, he’ll be in the [UFC] octagon this year.”