Conor McGregor‘s career has been struggling over consistency since his UFC 229 loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018. The bombastic Irishman has fought just three times in the five years since and went on to lose two of those fights. This includes his last Octagon appearance in 2021 at UFC 264 against Dustin Poirier, where he snapped his leg. Now, as he gears up to face rival ‘TUF’ coach Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29, talks of his retirement are gaining traction.

The Irishman made his Hollywood debut opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in ‘Road House’ last month. He also tends to his various business ventures that have made him the richest mixed martial artist in the history of the sport. Given all this, it is not surprising to see serious speculation that the whiskey baron may be looking to retire soon. Michael Chandler, meanwhile, has taken it upon himself to retire the former two-division champion with a loss in their bout. But ‘Notorious’s coach, John Kavanagh, begs to differ.

Conor McGregor will never retire, says Kavanagh

After Dana White officially announced the bout at the UFC 303 press conference, Michael Chandler has been out and about speaking to the media, creating hype for the fight. After being strung around and played with by McGregor for over a year, the former Bellator champion has made his (ill) intentions for the bout clear.

Chandler has promised he will break McGregor’s “jaw” and his “spirit” and retire him. He reiterated this message in a recent interview with MMA Mania, where he expressed confidence that he would put a beating of “biblical” proportions on the former champion. He repeated this later to Ariel Helwani, telling the veteran journalist he felt McGregor would hang up his gloves if he lost at UFC 303.

In a recent interview with SevereMMA, the SBG gym head coach shot down Chandler’s assessment. The BJJ black belt said, “I don’t think Conor will ever hang it up, so. But we [take it] one fight at a time,” he said. “We have a really big fight coming up—a big challenge. Chandler is a hell of a competitor, and I’m looking forward to that challenge. We’re all looking forward to that challenge.”

While Chandler will certainly be a challenge and may end in disappointment for the coach, he has one recent achievement that he will cherish for a long time.

UFC 303 will be very consequential for team McGregor

Like his pupil, John Kavanagh is also an entrepreneur. He founded and owns Alta, a fitness and fighting company offering a twenty-week crash course in martial arts for newbies. At the end of the twenty weeks, the participants may face an opponent who has gone through the same program.

The company recently reached a significant milestone as it was listed as a public company on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year. While this achievement certainly must have meant a lot to the coach, he will not have a lot of time for the business at least until late June of this year. Kavanagh, without a doubt, will have his hands full training McGregor for his much-awaited and perhaps future-defining comeback.

If McGregor looks even half the fighter he was in his prime, his comeback will be a victorious homecoming.On the other hand, a (bad) loss for McGregor, as most are expecting given the long period of inactivity, career-threatening injury, and recent form he is coming off of, will lead to him being written off as a top-level fighter in the future.

This is why, if McGregor can make a successful comeback despite all of this, it may be an even bigger achievement than Kavanagh’s company going public.