Sinead Kavanagh’s latest win — her fourth in the Dubliner’s past five fights — didn’t escape the attention of her longtime teammate Conor McGregor.
Kavanagh turned in a dominant hometown performance at last Saturday night’s Bellator 291 card from inside the 3Arena in Ireland’s capital city, easily winning a decision over City Kickboxing’s Kiwi star Janay Harding to increase her professional record to 9-5 — with Kavanagh’s sole defeat stretching back to the summer of 2019 coming in a title bout against the legendary Cris Cyborg.
The 37-year-old, who wore cage attire which displayed a sponsorship from McGregor’s Black Forge Inn pub, has been a longtime stablemate of McGregor’s on the mats at SBG. McGregor is presently in Las Vegas filming a season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ opposite Michael Chandler so he was unable to be cageside for the contest as he was for Kavanagh’s win against Leah McCourt exactly a year earlier — but he made sure to tune in, and afterwards offered his thoughts on what he described as a “phenomenal performance”.
Straight back the gaf ❤️ phenomenal performance Sinead! Super impressed!
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 27, 2023
“Straight back the gaf,” he wrote in response to a Kavanagh tweet in which she said the “beers [are] on me”.
“Phenomenal performance Sinead,” added McGregor. “Super impressed.”
Following Kavanagh’s win against McCourt last year it emerged that Bellator were lining her up for a second bout against featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, though this was waylaid by a knee injury sustained by Kavanagh in the bout. Speaking to the media, including The Mac Life, last week in Dublin, Bellator president Scott Coker said that Kavanagh is in the title picture — but said the promotion would wait until after the Bellator 293 clash between McCourt and Cat Zingano before revealing Cyborg’s next title challenger.
