John Kavanagh: Conor McGregor could squeeze in Floyd Mayweather rematch before 'real' MMA fight

Coach John Kavanagh believes that Conor McGregor could squeeze in a cross-code rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr in the build-up to a "real" MMA fight.

UFC lightweight title-holder McGregor made his boxing debut against former five-weight world champion Mayweather in one of the most lucrative bouts in history last August, defying pessimistic predictions that he would be swiftly overwhelmed and generally giving a good account of himself before predictably running out of steam and losing via a 10th-round stoppage at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Speculation - fuelled by contrived social media stunts and more jibes between the pair - over a second meeting between arguably the two biggest names in combat sports has continued to circulate of late, with Mayweather, who retired for the second time after extending his undefeated boxing record to 50-0, hinting that he could be willing to enter the Octagon.

Kavanagh himself admitted that "there seems to be something forming there" and stated that McGregor, who has not fought in the UFC since his victory over Eddie Alvarez in November 2016, would not need to train specifically for such a one-sided contest and take more time out ahead of an actual competitive encounter.

"Let's be realistic here - if the fight was to happen, I would nearly be pushing Conor to say 'let's book that two or three weeks before a real one,'" he told The Mac Life.

"I'd almost insist in that fight that Conor just shoots a double [leg] early because I'd be almost annoyed if he just went in there and put him away quickly with MMA striking. We need to see jiu-jitsu in that fight, he needs to be in the mount slapping him about a little bit.

"I think it would be such a straight, easy fight that we could train realistically for it and then do a competitive MMA fight on the back end of it. I think it's one of those ones we could squeeze in getting ready for a fight.

"I know that probably comes across a certain way, but I can only say what I'm thinking, I can only say what I feel and sort of a vision I can kind of see happening that if that was to happen, it's not the type of fight that Conor's gonna have to do a real specific 12 weeks for, and then take three or four months off afterwards, and completely get ready for another one. You could kind of fit it in on the night of his real fight."