Conor McGregor's coach doubted the UFC star would ever regain his hunger following his defeat by Khabib Nurmagomedov.
McGregor was choked out in the fourth round by the lightweight champion 15 months ago.
He will make his return to the cage on Saturday when he faces 50-fight veteran Donald Cerrone in what he claims will be the first of three fights this year.
But his long-time trainer John Kavanagh revealed he drifted apart from his star pupil as McGregor juggled the after-affects of defeat with his growing whisky business.
Kavanagh insists, however, the Dubliner has rediscovered his focus and that their relationship is better than ever.
"We drifted a bit; he had a lot going on in his life with his whiskey business and other things going on, and my team was getting busy with a lot of new fighters joining," he admitted.
"That was a natural thing that happened but the last couple of months have been fantastic. I feel we are tighter now than we have ever been so I'm feeling good.
"He kept showing up and I wondered whether he would be able to do the type of training required again because, let's call a spade a spade, he'd made a lot of money and it's hard to go running when you wake up in silk underwear.
"But he did, he kept training and pushing himself hard and not just talking about, but showing that he wanted to compete at a high level again."
Kavanagh also reiterated his belief that McGregor will return better than ever against Cerrone.
"It's absolutely an improvement in skill set, he's the best fighter technically I've ever seen," he added.
"If you think about it, what you need to get better at something is time and he's trained longer than he's ever done in his life because he's had another year of training."
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