LOS ANGELES — Last week, Conor McGregor told reporters he didn’t go particularly in-depth with his coaching for the European team on The Ultimate Fighter 22.
On Wednesday, his opposing coach, Urijah Faber, took it another step, saying there were times at the TUF gym in Las Vegas when the UFC interim bantamweight champion was nowhere to be found.
“He was there a little bit, but he wasn’t hands-on,” Faber said Wednesday. “I know he wasn’t there for a lot of the practices.”
Faber, coach of the American team, said he tries to look at a stint in the TUF house through the eyes of a fighter. For many, this is their make-or-break opportunity in the sport, and a rare chance to train with someone who has made it to the top.
“If I was in their situation, I would like to get as much knowledge as possible with the interim champ,” Faber said. “It’s a six-week process, a lot of these people spent their whole lives dedicated to the sport, it’s one of those things where, you don’t really need to hold their hand, but, being there, that kind of makes sense.”
Still Faber conceded that on one level, he could understand why McGregor chose to keep more distance between himself and his fighters than you usually see from TUF coaches.
“I talked to Sean Shelby and a lot of the guys on the European team were about to be in the UFC already, so those were maybe going to fight [McGregor eventually],” Faber said. “They’re ’55 pounders and ’45 pounders, so who knows how that’s going to play into things. That’s all the best guys in Europe, so who knows.”