John Kavanagh says Conor McGregor’s pre-UFC 303 injury that led to his withdrawal from the event could have been prevented, and he is placing the blame on himself.
McGregor was scheduled to fight Michael Chandler in June 2024 at UFC 303, but pulled out after suffering a broken pinky toe in sparring. According to Kavanagh, the injury happened when McGregor caught Tristan's elbow during a session that was partially staged for cameras.
"I'll say it more bluntly than (McGregor) will," Kavanagh said, before explaining the circumstances. "I should have had the protective gear on both guys from the start. The beginning of it was a little bit rushed. It's different when you're sparring for sparring, and sparring for whatever they were, 'Embedded' or 'Countdown,' and it was a bit sort of haphazard. 'What are we doing?' 'OK, you two just move around for the cameras, but it's also a spar.' It just wasn't done right. ... Look, I'll put my hand up."
Kavanagh added that McGregor continued through the pain. "He awkwardly caught Tristan's elbow and that happened very early. That happened in the first minute or so of Round 1, and he kind of whispered to me in between the rounds that he feels his toe is broke. I'm trying to stop it and he insisted on doing the next four rounds. He did all five rounds because you can kind of run on adrenaline a little bit. But yeah, it was nasty."
"Really, really sick. It was my fault," Kavanagh said, noting that they have been "super careful" in McGregor's current training camp. McGregor is scheduled to fight Max Holloway in the UFC 329 main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
UFC 303 marked the first time McGregor had ever pulled out of a fight, after not competing since breaking his leg in July 2021.
