John Kavanagh was Ireland's first ever Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt in the late 90s and an aspiring mixed martial artist but he soon realised that teaching MMA was his calling.
After meeting Conor McGregor over 10 years ago when the MMA star walked into his gym and told Kavanagh that he was going to be a future UFC Champion, the pair are now on the brink of a fight previously dismissed as impossible when McGregor switches to boxing and takes on the undefeated Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas next Saturday.
McGregor has never been shy to express his desire to fight in Croke Park but as Dana White had said before, it was a very tough ask. Speaking with Colette Sexton in the Sunday Business Post today, Kavanagh revealed the strongest reason as to why it won't happen; the taxes.
Taxes. Torturous. The fight would generate a nine-figure sum, and in Ireland half of that would go on taxes, while in Las Vesgas, they would only have to pay 10 per cent of tax.
It would also have to be done on Las Vegas time, which is eight hours behind of Ireland, so the event would start at midnight here and finish at 6am. This would cause conflict with local residents and the government.
Basically, for the UFC, Conor McGregor is now too big to fight anywhere other than Las Vegas or Russia, unless there is a special storyline such as fighting Khabib in Russia, so those who got to see The Notorious demolish Diego Brandao in the 3 Arena back in 2014 can consider themselves extra lucky.
Couple that with crippling taxes and the equally notorious Croke Park residents association, and you've got a dream that is sadly a non-runner.
We are now six days away from McGregor's first ever professional boxing bout where he stands to make a guaranteed $69 million dollars, so who knows, if it goes well he may have future boxing bouts, and maybe then he could realise his dream of fighting in Croker, but for the UFC, it's a no-go.
Read Colette Sexton's article in the Sunday Business Post with John Kavanagh here.
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