UFC president Dana White has revealed that Khabib Nurmagomedov was up for coaching the next season of The Ultimate Fighter alongside Conor McGregor until the Irishman leaked direct messages between him and White on social media.
MMA manger Ali Abdelaziz revealed yesterday that his fighter had rejected a coaching role opposite McGregor on the revived TUF series. Nurmagomedov has told him that a rematch with ‘Notorious’ will now never happen.
In an interview with Barstool Sports White revealed the undefeated Russian was about to agree to the TUF coaching gig before McGregor “blew” it.
“He was going to do it until Conor did all of this (expletive). I almost had it. That’s what I was saying: I felt like I was in a good place and I was going to get that done. We were going to do ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ on ESPN and (expletive) do the rematch. But you know, Conor blew that. … Yeah, Khabib said (expletive) him.”
The Ultimate Fighter is set to return to our screen for it’s 29th season later this year. As of right now, no further details are available about the upcoming series which last appeared on our screens in 2018.
Nurmagomedov and McGregor have a long and sordid history. The two men previously fought at UFC 229. ‘The Eagle’ used his wrestling to dominate much of the fight against McGregor before picking up a fourth round submission win. Post-fight a brawl broke out between the two fighters and their respective teams. Nurmagomedov and McGregor have continued to trade barbs over social media and in interviews ever since.
Since beating McGregor back in 2018 Nurmagomedov has made just one defence of his lightweight title – submitting Dustin Poirier inside three rounds at UFC 242 last year. He is set to defend once again later this month at UFC 254 against interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.
McGregor has also fought just once since that loss to Nurmagomedov. The 32-year-old needed just 40 seconds to wipe out Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 246 earlier this year. He has since retired from the sport but as of late has been talking about a comeback with boxing legend Manny Pacquiao targeted as his next opponent.
Do you think Dana White will be able to make Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor II?