John Kavanagh says there's "no chance" of Conor McGregor fighting Tony Ferguson at UFC 249.
Ferguson is currently without an opponent for UFC 249 following the withdrawal of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who appears to be stranded in Russia due to the coronavirus crisis.
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And Kavanagh has played down the prospect of McGregor replacing the undefeated Dagestan fighter.
"No chance of that," the Straight Blast Gym coach told ESPN. "Ireland is on a pretty strict lockdown [due to coronavirus]. Me and Conor have no physical interactions. There's no physical interaction at the gym. Gyms are shut down.
"To try and rush that together, I just don't think it would be smart. He certainly isn't fighting so that he has food for the next six months. That's not where he is in his life."
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Kavanagh also revealed that a fight between McGregor and Justin Gaethje had been discussed.
"[Gaethje] was certainly one of the ones that was being talked about," he added. "That was right up there."
McGregor, meanwhile, pulled no punches as he savaged Nurmagomedov for pulling out of his UFC 249 bout.
"I am in shape to fight right now!" He wrote on Twitter.
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"At the beginning of all this, I said to myself - I'm happy I don't have an official fight booked. If I did, I would have consumed all the incorrect data to support me taking part in the bout, and I would have followed through, competed. And won."
In another tweet, he wrote: "The fact of this matter is, both Tony and Khabib where engaged in a game of chicken here towards the fight bell. With Khabib chickening out first. Making it 3-2 in pullouts in Tony's favour. Khab scurried out of the U.S to home, and amid the crisis. Very high risk. Congrats Tony."
UFC 249, which goes down on April 18, is still clouded with uncertainty amid the global pandemic.
Stay tuned to SPORTbible for the latest updates.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Conor Mcgregor, Khabib, UFC News, John Kavanagh, Tony Ferguson, Fight News, UFC, MMA, UFC 249
