A GAA legend has been a 'massive influence' on Conor McGregor's coach, John Kavanagh.

As the clock ticks down to McGregor's bout with Nate Diaz tonight, when asked by The Irish Independent to name the coaches that have inspired him, Kavanagh answered: "Two names jump out. And they came just at the right time, which has been a big part of my life.

"They would be Kieran McGeeney, GAA legend and all of that. He taught me a lot, so bloody much, about competitive mindset.

"I came from academics, I was going to be a maths teacher before all this. So I had never studied anything with sport, I'd never really achieved anything personally in sport. So I just didn't really know about high level sport and what it takes to win. McGeeney was a huge influence on me in that respect.

"He just booked a private lesson with me. I had no idea who he was. But I worked out with him and I thought to myself pretty quickly, 'this guy's not normal'. He was just different. And he's just had a massive influence on everything I've done since.

"Then I would also credit Eoin Lacey and John Connor from the ISI (Irish Strength Institute). What I liked about ISI - and for that matter what I liked about Kieran McGeeney - was the attitude. It was not like what you get a lot. I didn't want to be the best in Ireland. I wasn't training my guys to be the best fighters in Ireland. We were training for, well, for this.

"I remember I was trying to get the MMA rules changed in Ireland about seven or eight years ago and I said to the other coaches that we have to change the rules to mimic UFC rules, and the reaction was 'why, sure we're never going to have someone there?' I said 'well you mightn't but I will'."

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