McGregor and Faber to coach on TUF 22: USA vs. Europe

UGer FETT_the geek broke the story on the site – UFC interim featherweight Champion Conor McGregor abd Urijah Faber will appear as opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 22: USA vs. Europe. The two will not fight at the conclusion of the season. There will be eight lightweights on either side.

TUF 22 will premier on Sept 22 with a special two-hour debut episode.

McGregor and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo will fight in a title unification bout, likely in Vegas.

The decision to cast McGregor with Faber was inspired in part by the run in the pair had earlier in the weekend.

According to UFC Vice President of Public Relations Dave Sholler, the organization was considering a few options. But when McGregor, who won the title in Saturday’s UFC 189 pay-per-view headliner with a second-round TKO victory over Chad Mendes, had a preflight clash with Faber (Mendes’ teammate) backstage during UFC 189 weigh-ins, officials opted to capitalize.

Conor’s can’t-miss TV right now, and I think there’s a lot of buzz for Conor not only here, but also in Europe and the rest of the world, Sholler told MMAjunkie after Sunday’s event. The way we formatted this show to be Europe vs. the United States – let’s be honest, Faber and McGregor don’t get along, so it made a lot of sense for us from a production standpoint.

At the end of the day, it’s going to be can’t-miss TV. We’re really excited about the format and really excited about the coaches.

There was no fake drama,. Urijah ran into McGregor backstage. I think if you look at that video, Conor gave Urijah a little pat on the head. I’m used to getting those. Urijah didn’t react well, but fortunately, Urijah didn’t turn that into anything more than it could be.

But that wasn’t premeditated. That wasn’t manufactured. These guys just don’t like each other.

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