John Kavanagh joins Ki MMA as ambassador, insists Conor McGregor had 'zero injury' before UFC 329

John Kavanagh, the SBG Ireland head coach best known for guiding Conor McGregor, has joined Scott Coker's new promotion Ki MMA in an ambassador role. Kavanagh announced the move on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday, October 27, and used the same appearance to shut down speculation that McGregor entered his UFC 329 fight with Max Holloway already injured.

An ambassador role at Ki MMA

According to Ariel Helwani, Kavanagh has officially joined Ki MMA alongside Scott Coker and Rich Chou.

"They offered me a type of ambassador role, if you will. Basically, whatever needs to be done, I get done," Kavanagh said. "Over these last couple of decades, I've built up a good network, especially in Europe, but really around the world too. Whether it's helping out with getting fighters, helping out with venues, whatever needs to be done, I'm there to help."

Ki MMA was unveiled by co-founders Coker and Peter Y. Levin at a launch event in New York in early October and is set to debut in the first quarter of 2027. Its centrepiece is a 32-fighter featherweight World Grand Prix built from four eight-man continental tournaments in North America, South America, Asia and Europe, with all bouts taking place in a ring. Kavanagh's European contacts fit that format, since one of the four brackets will be made up of European fighters. Event dates, host cities and broadcast details have not been announced.

'He walked in with no injury'

McGregor's comeback at UFC 329 in Las Vegas on July 11, his first fight in five years, lasted 69 seconds. His knee gave way after a jumping kick in the opening exchange against Holloway, and the bout was stopped as a TKO due to injury at 1:09 of the first round. McGregor later said he had torn his ACL and meniscus.

Kavanagh said the kick was a move McGregor had drilled constantly in camp.

"Conor's always liked to have the first move of a fight down. This one, he had come up with that kick, and he had done it a thousand times," Kavanagh said. "He started every spar with this move, and it always went really well, whether it was a good shot that was landing or at least throwing the opponent off."

He was firm that the knee was not compromised beforehand.

"For the conspiracy theorists out there, he walked in with no injury. Zero injury. There was absolutely no injury," Kavanagh said. "I can guarantee you that he was 100% going in. In fact, probably more healthy going into this one than the last few. Everything was really 100%, and then it wasn't."

Kavanagh also rejected the idea that McGregor lacked his usual confidence: "I certainly didn't see anything different than usual. I've had intimate conversations with him afterwards, and he's only told me that he felt supremely confident going in."

The night after

Kavanagh said McGregor immediately turned his attention to recovery.

"Right away he was talking about, 'What's the surgery options? What's the recovery time like?'" he said. "I stayed in his house that night, and what was great was the next morning, hearing all his kids running around laughing and joking... I thought that was great for Conor as well, that he had his brain being kept busy with family stuff. There's no point in dwelling on it."

McGregor has said he believes he can return by next summer, which would be the final fight on his current UFC contract. Nothing has been booked.

Kavanagh backs point deductions

Kavanagh also praised referees such as Marc Goddard for taking a tougher line on fouls.

"I certainly am very happy to see that points are starting to be deducted," he said. "I know there's a lot of talk about the glove shape. I guarantee you, if they really start coming down on that and they start scoring against people, regardless of glove shape, people are gonna make a fist or they're gonna have their fingers pointing up. You're gonna see that problem solved real fast."