The birth of her child while still in school, the death of his father, a mother driven to drink after the death of her brother and sister, and homelessness.
These are only a few of the struggles SBG’s Sinead Kavanagh has had to battle through and overcome
Time and again she has risen after setbacks that most of us would be unable to empathise with.
Friday’s first-round knockout loss at Bellator 271 to MMA legend Cris Cyborg, pales when compared to some of the fights in life that Sinead Kavanagh has faced.
.@CrisCyborg leaves no doubt as to her championship status.
She is now 4️⃣ & 0️⃣ inside the #Bellator cage.#Bellator271 pic.twitter.com/TcwYl57kPC— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) November 13, 2021
As an expert in battling through tough times, it is a guarantee that we will see Kavanagh back in the octagon.
The Inchicore native came into the fight in good form, off the back of two wins, and sitting in 5th place in Bellator featherweight rankings.
However, for Kavanagh, going into the fight with a 7-4 overall record, to take a matchup against the 23-2 Cyborg was heroic in itself.
Heroic but not surprising. Being who Sinead Kavanagh is, it was going to be impossible for Kavanagh to turn down the opportunity to become the first Irish female MMA fighter to fight for a major world title.
As it happened, the fight looked like it was playing into Kavanagh’s hands, with both fighters on their feet and trading blows with their fists.
Kavanagh who is an ex-boxer, having been part of the same Irish amateur team as Katie Taylor, would have fancied herself in this situation against Cyborg.
Cyborg herself admitted that she had gone completely against her team’s tactics.
“I didn’t do anything my team planned, so sorry. But I feel great about it.”
It was not to be however, and Cyborg found Kavanagh’s chin before finishing her on the ground with a couple of punishing blows.
But Sinead Kavanagh, who is a teammate of Conor McGregor and is coached by John Kavanagh, is a fighter in all walks of life and will be back.
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