Conor McGregor has been accused of nepotism on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter.
After a long absence from the UFC, superstar Conor McGregor is looking to get back into action. He was chosen to be a coach on the newest season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) across from Michael Chandler. The two men will compete on the show and then will fight at a later date. For those who are unaware of how TUF works, each coach will choose fighters to be on their teams. The roster itself is chosen by the UFC but now McGrgeor is being accused of replacing chosen fighters with those from his own team back home.
This season the show will follow lightweights and bantamweights as they look to fight their way into the UFC and earn a contract. The filming has just begun but a list of the participating fighters has been leaked. After the names were posted online, it was reported that three names were removed to make way for McGregor’s teammates. Now McGregor is reacting to this allegation.
Ken Cross, Mitch Ramirez and Brandon Jenkins all got pulled off to make room for 3 of Conor’s guy to be on the show.
— Daniel Rubenstein (@dannyrube) February 17, 2023
Conor McGregor denies replacing three potential fighters on this season of TUF
This is the second time McGregor has served as a coach on this show. His first appearance was back in 2015 when he coached opposite Urijah Faber. During that season, McGrgeor brought his friend Artem Lobov with him and put him on team McGregor. It seems that he is doing a similar thing this time around but has only admitted to adding one man. He expressed this in a since-deleted tweet.
This message was directed to fellow UFC fighter Chris Curtis after he called out McGregor for replacing fighters who earned a spot.
“@Actionman513 not true. I only know 1 guy on this show and he put himself forward for it. And he is now, after today, set to fight the no. 1 seed!” he wrote. “I didn’t ask nor request nothing! And I certainly didn’t have people removed. I’m just tryna get back in the mix myself so f–k off.”
The filming and goings on at the TUF gym are supposed to be confidential, however, McGregor has already broken that rule. The show will be airing on ESPN in May and fans will then be able to get the whole story, until then, he might continue to share house secrets with fans.
