UFC number one contender to Jose Aldo’s belt, Conor McGregor has just announced that he will competing at the IBJJF No Gi Europeans which will be held in Rome on April 11th, 2015.
McGregor has already competed at the No Gi Europeans back in 2012 at the time when it was held in London. He reached the quarter finals last time, notably beating Kywan Gracie Behring.
He was always fond of fighting and was no stranger to combat sports having already been a National Boxing Champion as an amateur. With his boxing background as a base he has also trained in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Capoeira, and Kickboxing prior to competing in professional MMA. McGregor currently holds a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Kavanagh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUDTlTPucL0#t=12
McGregor was promoted to BJJ brown belt by his instructor John Kavanagh.
His instructor John Kavanagh runs the Straight Blast Gym Ireland and was the first Irish person to be awarded a black belt in BJJ. John fought in MMA to get a basic knowledge and experience of it before he moved into coaching, and where his true love lies in teaching. The fighters he coaches are among the top that compete in Irish MMA and are belt holders in the major Irish promotions such as Cage Contenders. He has trained notable fighters, such as Gunnar Nelson, Paul McVeigh, Cathal Pendred, Aisling Daly, Conor McGregor, Chris Fields and Owen Roddy.
Check out Conor McGregor vs Kywan Gracie Behring at the European No Gi Open in 2012:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy_-YlW_DN4
In this video from a few years back, McGregor goes inverted, uses De La Riva guard and more BJJ moves: