Coach: McGregor doing a 'huge amount' of sparring in preparation for Mayweather

Coach John Kavanagh gives some details on Conor McGregor's training camp ahead of the Floyd Mayweather fight.

Conor McGregor has shifted his focus from movement and conditioning drills to 'extra rounds' of sparring in the lead-up to his boxing superfight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., according to SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh.

Kavanagh, who has been McGregor's coach and mentor since he was a teenager, recently told Andrew McGahon of TheMacLife.com that the current UFC lightweight champion is doing 'four times the amount of sparring' for this training camp.

“Without going into too much detail – just to throw a number at you – we’re doing four times the amount of sparring for this camp than we would do for a regular MMA camp,” Kavanagh said, per Peter Carroll of MMA Fighting.

“That’s a huge amount of extra rounds. Whatever other parts you get ready for a fight whether it’s boxing or MMA, without a doubt the most important part of that is sparring. That’s the sport. So you can be doing movement drills and weight lifting and running and all of these different things that go with it but number one should be sparring, as long as it’s sensible.”

McGregor, who has teased at a December UFC return, is focused solely on boxing until August 26, which has led to some concerns over his readjustment to MMA.

Kavanagh, however, believes the boxing experience will benefit McGregor in the long run.

“It’s a learning experience. You don’t get to do this too often, where you immerse yourself in one style. I read somewhere that people were saying that this would have a negative effect on Conor when he goes back to MMA; I think it’s only going to have a positive effect. When else could you shelve everything and focus on one art?

“Whatever about the other arts in MMA, Conor came from boxing and boxing was always in his heart. He was always showing me different boxing fights over the years, so now that he really gets to immerse himself in it and drag us all deep into that rabbit hole with him it is fascinating.”

McGregor, 28, could return to the Octagon against the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is one of the division's most feared contenders. UFC president Dana White told reporters that 'The Notorious' wants to fight Nurmagomedov in Russia.

Mayweather vs. McGregor, which looks set to smash all pay-per-view records, is a 12-round boxing fight that takes place on August 26 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.