Most of the people who made a name in history definitely have a long tale of action-packed events to talk about. Likewise, in the life of Conor McGregor too, a lot of twists and turns happened, which took him where he is now. McGregor reached the peak of his success when he won the Ultimate Fighting Championships in both the featherweight and lightweight divisions. This made him the first-ever UFC star to win championships in two weight classes at the same time.

The Irishman has earned the admiration of millions for his accomplishments inside and outside the octagon. It is mainly through Conor McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, that we know the champion more closely.

The young Conor McGregor of ‘Win or Learn’

In his book ‘Win or Learn: MMA, Conor McGregor, and Me: A Trainer’s Journey’, Kavanagh has beautifully penned down the experience of coaching McGregor. In the book, the MMA coach writes about how ‘The Notorious’ scammed him and a phone call from McGregor’s mother changed both their lives. Kavanagh writes, “To be honest, I didn’t really want to know at first. Why would I? Conor was in my debt. I owed him nothing. My gym was by no means thriving financially at that stage, so I wasn’t exactly in a position to be nonchalant about €500.” In the book, Kavanagh was talking about a time when both McGregor and Kavanagh were not rich and financially struggling.

Conor was having a hard time when he started his fighting career. He was struggling both financially and professionally. He refused to accept his defeat each time he battled and lost in the fighting game. The defeat left the young McGregor feeling degraded and stripped him of all self-confidence.

As a result, the young boy from the streets of Dublin stopped going to the gym and lost all of his commitment and determination. There was, however, a disagreeable situation going on between the coach and McGregor at the same moment. The Irishman tricked his coach.

And that made all the difference

Kavanagh used to give his students tickets to sell; they would take a portion of their commission and give the remaining money to the coach. McGregor, though, lied to the coach, saying that he forgot to bring the money and that he would bring it next week. However, following the devastation of the loss, he swindled his coach and stopped going to the gym. Being in financial difficulty himself, Kavanagh was not ready to let go of the money. Nevertheless, McGregor‘s silence forced him to give up. At the same time, back at his house, McGregor was beginning to forget what he valued most in life. Depression overcame him, and he lost his desire to fight. However, until his mother, Margaret McGregor, made a phone call to the coach; he was ignorant of what young McGregor was going through.

READ MORE: “I’ll Always Be Grateful to Joe for That” – Conor McGregor Learned a Priceless Lesson After a Crushing 38-Second Loss That Even Coach Kavanagh Couldn’t Teach Him

The very phone call altered McGregor‘s life irrevocably. When McGregor’s mother asked the coach to help her, bring the Irishman back to his dreams, the coach gave in. The main reason for this was that she shared the same name as Kavanagh‘s mother, Margaret. He wrote, “That sort of hit me because my own mother’s name is also Margaret. A small thing, but it resonated with me.” It thus introduced the UFC superstar to the world and all this was a result of that one act by Kavanagh and McGregor’s mother.

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