John Kavanagh doesn’t seem bothered by the growing narrative Conor McGregor needs to be booked for a fight soon or give up the UFC lightweight championship.

UFC President Dana White said this past week that McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC), who hasn’t competed in MMA since winning the 155-pound belt from Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November 2016, must soon give a timeframe for his return or the division would have to “move on.”

With interim UFC lightweight champ Tony Ferguson (23-3 MMA, 13-1 UFC) awaiting a unification bout with McGregor, and unbeaten contender Khabib Nurmagomedov (25-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) eager to fight either, there’s a growing discontent with the many unknowns surrounding “The Notorious.”

Kavanagh, who is McGregor’s longtime head coach at SBG Ireland in Dublin, conducted an interview with BBC Northern Ireland and was asked for an update on his fighter. He wasn’t convinced the belt is going anywhere.

“Conor’s still the champion. They can say what they want – I have his belt at home, actually,” Kavanagh said. “He’s still the champion. He’s making the decision on what makes sense for the next move. It’s kind of early days yet. We’re just watching how that has developed while he’s been away; he’s had other going things on. Let’s see what happens in 2018. I’m excited about it, anyway.”

Although McGregor hasn’t seen UFC action in more than 14 months, he did have a high-profile boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in August. He lost that fight by TKO in Round 10, but received a massive payday which has contributed to his layoff.

In recent months, McGregor has been in the headlines for many reasons unrelated to his own fighting career. Kavanagh said 29-year-old is now back in the gym often, though, and that’s likely a promising sign.

“I’m happy to see him back just regular training,” Kavanagh said. “He had a lot going on in his life, a lot of stuff outside of fighting was going on in his life. He seems to be getting the hang of all that. He’s back training almost everyday now.”

And for anyone concerned about McGregor potentially delaying his UFC return even further in favor of pursuing another boxing match, Kavanagh said that won’t be the case if he has his druthers. However, he also wouldn’t reveal much insight into McGregor’s real plans.

“I think 2018 will be another big year for us,” Kavanagh said. “Exactly what that is, I don’t know yet. The plan is forming, but as they say, stay tuned. … My opinion, I’ll be pushing very hard for MMA. The boxing was a nice detour from what we’ve done, but mixed martial arts is my passion. If I have anything to do with it, he’ll be in the octagon this year.”

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