chill out | 

Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh tells Vladimir Putin to 'relax' on Victory Day

Kavanagh tweeted the message while on holiday in Paris where he was enjoying a drink on the rooftop of a hotel

Neil Fetherstonhaugh

Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh has told dictator Vladimir Putin to “relax” in a message sent on Russia’s ‘Victory Day’.

As Russia celebrated the anniversary marking the end of the end of the Second Word War with a parade of military night in Moscow, the man who steered McGregor’s career took to social media with a message for its leader.

“Happy #VictoryDay Europe,” he tweeted. “No more acting the bollix Germany, and relax Putin. Make love, not war.”

Kavanagh tweeted the message while on holiday in Paris where he was enjoying a drink on the rooftop of a hotel.

McGregor, who has called the Russian president "one of the greatest leaders of our time" previously revealed how Putin once tested a bottle of his Proper Twelve whiskey for "poison" after the UFC star gave him a bottle.

Back in 2019, while speaking at a press conference in Moscow, McGregor said: "Many people don't know, the very first bottle of Proper Twelve Irish whiskey, I gifted to Vladimir Putin.

"President Putin's security detail is second to none as I'm sure you know, you don't mess around with Vladimir,” he continued.

"So, I gifted the bottle and I gifted it to his security.

“They had to take the liquid from the bottle to make sure the liquid was safe, and it was not maybe poisoned or what not, and then it was gifted to Vladimir Putin.”

McGregor said that while he hasn’t spoken to him since, he’s sure he had a taste and enjoyed it.

The pair met in 2018 at the World Cup when the Russian invited Conor to Moscow to watch the football final between France and Croatia.

At the time, McGregor thanked Putin for the invite and called him “one of the greatest leaders of our time."

Taking to social media to share his meeting, he said: "Today I was invited to the World Cup final as a guest of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"This man is one of the greatest leaders of our time and I was honoured to attend such a landmark event alongside him.”

"Today was an honour for me Mr. Putin. Thank you, and congratulations on an amazing World Cup."

In March, Kavanagh posted a picture on Twitter of himself with Hollywood star Will Smith from the time they trained together in Dubai last year.

In the wake of the Academy Awards controversy when Smith smacked Chris Rock live on stage, coach Kavanagh shared a throwback photo of when he trained Smith in 2021.

John and Smith linked up in Dubai during one of McGregor’s training camps.

According to Kavanagh, Smith was determined to learn a thing or two about fighting.

“That was a weird situation that popped up,” Kavanagh explained.

“I was in Dubai training with Conor and his people were on to my people, as they say. Would I be interested in doing a session with Will Smith?

"Absolutely I would. I’m a massive fan, I couldn’t believe it.

“I got to go out to an incredible sport complex out there. I’ve got a warrior programme and I put him through a typical session. I was super impressed with him.”


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