Win or Learn: MMA, Conor McGregor and Me: A Trainer's Journey
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17. At the Aviva Stadium in Dublin for a Six Nations rugby match, February 2016. Apart from being my fiancée, Orlagh is a valued colleague at SBG – but we enjoy doing things that have nothing to do with MMA.
Acknowledgements
John Kavanagh
There are so many people I could thank for making this story a possibility: I’m afraid if I start listing them all individually, I’ll forget someone. So I’ll simply say that I’m thankful to every single person who has played a part in this journey. I think you all know who you are by now. Special thanks to Conor McGregor, who took the time to write the foreword for this book. I’d also like to thank Paul Dollery for investing his time and expertise in helping me to put this story into words, as well as Tommy Lakes and Dolly Clew for contributing their photography. Finally, I need to extend a special thank you to my beautiful soon-to-be-wife Orlagh Hunter, who has the unenviable task of putting up with my obsessive mind every day.
Paul Dollery
To my wife and best friend Sinéad, without whom I wouldn’t have been able to balance the biggest professional and personal commitments of my life; to my colleagues at The42.ie, especially Adrian Russell, whose patience, support and encouragement made my involvement in this book possible; to Niall Kelly, Fintan O’Toole and Jackie Cahill for their advice; to Artem Lobov, Cathal Pendred and Conor McGregor for their contributions; to Orlagh Hunter for filling in the gaps in John’s memory; to Brendan Barrington, Michael McLoughlin and the team at Penguin for imparting their knowledge, experience and guidance; to Ciarán Medlar for his assistance; and to John Kavanagh for giving me the honour of telling his inspirational story … Thank you all.
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PENGUIN IRELAND
UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia
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Penguin Ireland is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published 2016
Copyright © John Kavanagh, 2016
Photos © Getty Images
Cover design: Estuary English
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-241-97767-5
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
Illustrations
Acknowledgements
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