FILMING FOR THE 22nd season of The Ultimate Fighter ended today, but breaking with tradition, the show’s coaches won’t square off at the finale.
UFC interim featherweight champion Conor McGregor is coaching a team of European lightweights against their counterparts from the USA, who are under the guidance of UFC veteran and former WEC champion Urijah Faber.
McGregor’s next fight will be a featherweight title unification bout against reigning champion Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in Las Vegas on 12 December, so he won’t be taking on Faber at the finale which takes place in Vegas the night before.
However, in a TUF 22 promo released today — featuring an interview with McGregor which was recorded before filming began six weeks ago — the Irish star said that he was keen to face Faber instead at UFC Fight Night 76 in Dublin on 24 October.
“Really, it would be nice to have a fight at the end of it,” McGregor said. “We could easily fit a fight in on the Dublin card in October. I could go in and make light work of Urijah, I could maul him inside one [round] and be fresh. And then we could do the Jose [Aldo] fight towards the end of the year.”
Unfortunately a McGregor versus Faber bout at UFC Fight Night 76 won’t be happening, although the Dubliner is due to return home in the coming days for the first time since getting his hands on a UFC belt.
McGregor also revealed that the original plan was for him to coach on TUF 22 against Chad Mendes. However, that changed when Jose Aldo withdrew from his scheduled UFC 189 fight against McGregor last month due to injury.
Mendes stepped in to replace Aldo, and after McGregor emerged victorious, Mendes’ Team Alpha Male colleague Urijah Faber stepped in to fill the coaching role instead — something McGregor initially wasn’t keen on, but his outlook eventually changed.
“My energy was gone from it,” said McGregor. “I didn’t want to do it. It did not mean anything to me. But the more I think about it and seeing the fights to get into the house, and just being around it, this is the life I have chosen. This is the life I have created.
“To be here and have this opportunity is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Rather than be off with it and feel like I need to get away from it, I am embracing it now.”
