Having had him in studio last week, Ariel Helwani decided that there was little point in breaking a winning formula, and spoke to John Kavanagh for an hour following Conor McGregor's procession to the lightweight title at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Kavanagh, as usual, came across superbly well, offering great insights into the nuances of the Alvarez fight, what next for McGregor and, most importantly, the post-fight piss up in New York. Following the sale of the company, Frank Fertitta was not around to uphold tradition in sharing a glass of whiskey with Kavanagh in the dressing room, so they had to get out and about.
That they did, and the scenes from the after party attest to a pretty solid night out.
Things developed further after that clip was released, however, as Kavanagh told Helwani.
He showed the burn marks on his arms, and Helwani being the fine journalist that he is, asked him where they had come from. Here's the highly entertaining response:
AH: I see you have some marks on your arm.
JK: That's what happens when you challenge Conor's wrestling coach, Sergey, to a wrestling takedown match in your hotel hallway.
AH: Wow, what time is this?
JK: This must have been 6 o' clock. It was so funny, I remember we were walking towards the door, and we were carrying all of our gear. I dropped the gear, and I said 'Alright, Sergey, let's go'. And he was taking off his jacket already, he sensed it! I think grapplers always do this, when they get a few drinks into them, you have to roll.
But yeah, I got thrown violently on my head.
AH: How long did this last?
JK: I don't know. I got him with the armbar on the ground but in fairness to Sergey, he's the wrestler, I'm the ju-jitsu guy. Conor took a video of it, standing there laughing. He said to me afterwards 'well coach, we got a knockout and an armbar tonight!'
AH: Did you get hurt?
JK: Nah, nah.
AH: Is this where people are sleeping?
JK: Yeah, we were rolling around, knocking into doors. Apologies to anyone we woke up, I'm usually the guy in the room going 'Gods' sake, these idiots'.
Kavanagh later revealed that a fan had left a bottle of single malt in the hotel room, so it was about 7.30 am by the time he got to bed.
You can watch the full interview below.
