Just 14 months ago, Lone’er Kavanagh was coming off the worst night of his career.
The British UFC flyweight, a 26-year-old prospect at the time, had been knocked out by Charles Johnson - a fighter with a career-high ranking of No 14 (and one of the most out-there haircuts in the fight game) - simultaneously stripping him of his undefeated record and dashing his momentum. “Obviously it was hard,” he told The Independent. “Losing is never fun.”
Jump to present day and Kavanagh’s one career loss is now two. But instead of being resigned as a faltering prospect, he finds himself in the upper echelons of the flyweight division, maybe a couple fights away from a title shot as he prepares for his bout with dangerous striker Ramazonbek Temirov at UFC 333 on Saturday.
The turning point came in February. On less than a month’s notice, he was offered the chance to step in and fight former two-time flyweight champion Brandon Moreno, in front of a fiercely pro-Moreno crowd in Mexico City no less. He took the shot and it paid off, with Kavanagh triumphing on the scorecards in his first ever five-round fight, against a veteran of the main event scene.
Suddenly, Kavanagh was teetering on flyweight title conversation. It marked a rapid recovery from his greatest setback that even he didn’t expect: “No, definitely not. It was like a blessing. I'm very grateful that I got offered it [the Moreno fight], and that's it. I’m just very grateful to be in the position I'm in.”
The Moreno win propelled him to a match with bona fide top contender Brandon Royval within four months. This is where his second loss came; but there was a different feeling to the first. He had held his own, level with the American on the scorecards before being submitted in the third.
“I took a lot away from that fight,” he said. “Royval's such a good opponent. He was also a nice guy, and he's been at the top for so long.
“It shows experience is a big thing, and that’s exactly what I took away from fight: experience. There’s things to work on and things to learn, making the right decisions at the right time, so I took a lot from that fight.”
But while Kavanagh hails the importance of experience, there appears to be a generational changing of the guard at flyweight, spearheaded by the youngest champion in UFC history since a 23-year-old Jon Jones conquered light heavyweight in 2011. Joshua Van, who turned 25 this month, is the division’s boy king, with veteran former champion Alexandre Pantoja left in his dust.
Kavanagh wants to similarly be at the forefront of this uprising of youth at 125lbs. “I feel like flyweight’s full of young killers and I’m happy to be part of that. We’re going to continue to do well,” he says. Like Kavanagh, Van’s first UFC loss came at the hands of Johnson - perhaps it’s a rite of passage for success.
Like most if not all, becoming world champion is Kavanagh’s primary goal. At just 27, though, he has already ticked off a few of the top items on his UFC bucket list.
Born and bred a Londoner, his second bout in the company was fought down the Jubilee Line at the O2 Arena. But it’s his fights in China that hit that little bit different. He has Chinese blood courtesy of his mother, who raised Kavanagh as a single parent after his father died when he was young. She was the one who got him into kick-boxing when he was just an eight-year-old “pup”.
“Very blessed in the sense of like, if you was to tell me like before I went to UFC, ‘Where would you like to fight?’ I would've said, ‘I'd love to fight in China’,” said Kavanagh, who made his debut in Macau before returning to Shanghai for the Johnson fight.
“ I love the Chinese fans. It’s weird because obviously I've only been to China to fight, but it feels like home to me. I feel welcome , I feel very part of it. But I'm also born and bred in the UK, in London, so it's good to have the best of both worlds.”
Newfound UFC stardom isn’t just keeping Kavanagh in touch with his heritage. He’s also beginning to experience the high-life. A die-hard Arsenal fan, he’s found himself in boxes at the Emirates Stadium as a result of his rise.
Once a gunner... 🔴 ⚽️
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) March 15, 2026
Lone'er Kavanagh taking in the sights at @Arsenal! pic.twitter.com/VTIrL1Szpg
“I'm very grateful for this life,” he said. “If you'd told me five years ago the stuff I’d be doing now, I’d have told you to do one.
“It’s hard sometimes, that's what I'm trying to work on is like living in the moment and taking a step back and realising it. Obviously for me it's like always, ‘What's next?’ But every now and again, you'd step back and have those little pinch me moments. It's a good life.”
But on Saturday, Kavanagh’s focus will be on getting business done, already acutely aware of how quickly things can fall apart. He’s spent his fighting life under the tutelage of the likes of Brad Pickett and Nathaniel Wood at Great Britain Top Team, the gym’s UFC past and present who “set the blueprint” for Londoners in the sport. “You’ve just got to follow it,” Kavanagh said, who against Temirov will need to ensure he can successfully bounce back once again.