John Kavanagh believes dry ice is the ‘only thing that makes sense’ for Conor McGregor’s brutal injury at UFC 329.McGregor returned to competition for the first time in five years against Max Holloway in July, but his comeback ended in just 69 seconds.McGregor started the main event of UFC 329 with a wild jumping kickGettyHe landed awkwardly on his knee and never recoveredGettyThe 38-year-old injured his knee in the opening exchange after starting the fight with a wild roundhouse kick and was unable to continue without landing a single strike.McGregor said the Las Vegas defeat left him ‘beyond dark’ before later suggesting that dry ice laid out on the canvas during his walkout caused his slip and eventual injury.His theory was understandably met with scepticism from some MMA fans who believed McGregor was looking for an excuse.However, with McGregor currently isolated in Los Angeles and fully focused on contesting the final fight of his UFC contract, his long-time coach says otherwise.Coach Kavanagh on McGregor’s dry ice theory“It’s the only thing that makes sense to me,” Kavanagh said of the dry ice theory on The Ariel Helwani Show Tuesday.“Because I saw him do it [the kick] so many times on different surfaces.“We sometimes trained on jiu-jitsu mats, a UFC-style canvas and a smooth canvas. We did it on multiple different surfaces, and it was always perfect.“His landing, his grip, everything was great, and the UFC canvas is particularly sticky.“Anybody who fights for the first time in the UFC, you’ll always see them coming out with rashes on their knees and elbows, because it has this sandy grip to it.“So it’s very, very grippy… unless you put dry ice on it, and you have this little film of liquid on it.McGregor was surrounded by dry ice when he entered the cage for his Holloway fightGetty“Which is the only thing that makes sense to me is that we hadn’t trained on dry ice.”Kavanagh, who was in McGregor’s corner for his comeback fight, said the dry ice seemingly caught his man off guard after the roundhouse kick.The owner of Straight Blast Gym (SBG) Ireland is convinced it caused McGregor’s slip, as he had seen the former two-division UFC champion attempt the move ’50 times’ in preparation.McGregor drilled kick religiously, says Kavanagh“Conor’s always liked to have the first move of a fight down, and he’s done this for a number of his fights,” Kavanagh added when asked about McGregor’s decision to start the fight that way.“He’s always had a first move just to get the fight going. In this one, he had come up with that kick, and he had done it a thousand times. “It always went really well, whether it was a good shot that was landing, or at least throwing the opponent off — then he gets into the fight and starts doing his thing.Kavanagh said he was in disbelief when McGregor injured his kneeGetty“I didn’t know what had happened. Was it a slip? But it was obvious that when he stood up, something had gone horribly wrong.“Then there was another slip, and that was basically it. I’ve always said with MMA, it’s the highest highs and the lowest lows, and that was certainly one of those moments where I just couldn’t believe it.”Kavanagh said that Team McGregor were ‘100 per cent’ focused on a successful return, having essentially put six months of their lives on hold for a tough training camp.He noted McGregor genuinely felt ‘supremely confident’ he would get the job done.In the end, McGregor suffered ACL and meniscus injuries in his right knee and underwent surgery in August.For now, the UFC star is seemingly doing everything he can for one potential last dance, having already called for a trilogy with Holloway, who lost to McGregor in 2013, next summer.talkSPORT's UFC pound-for-pound rankingstalkSPORT.com has collectively voted on the best fighters to form a regularly updated UFC pound-for-pound (P4P) rankings system for the rest of 2026 and beyond.Our P4P list will be updated regularly based on performances in the Octagon — with wins, records, title wins and defences, calibre of opponents, methods of victory and much more all determining who makes it.UFC champions Islam Makhachev, Joshua Van and Sean Strickland feature – but big stars such as Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall miss out.“Can he make a comeback and get back into that fight shape?” Kavanagh concluded, speaking on the odds of McGregor making yet another return following injury.“If anybody can, he can. I just think it’ll come down to where the fire is.”