Former UFC star Urijah Faber recently came clean on why he didn’t fight Conor McGregor even after being his rival coach in The Ultimate Fighter’s twenty-second season. The ‘Team Alpha Male’ head appeared on the latest episode of Demetrious Johnson’s YouTube podcast, where he revealed that UFC CEO Dana White didn’t want their fight to materialize.
It’s the UFC’s tradition to fix a fight between the rivaling coaches in a season of TUF. Lots of stars like Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, Chael Sonnen, and others have gone on to fight their rival coaches after the end of their respective TUF seasons. This is why Faber wasn’t too happy about White barring him from fighting McGregor despite him deserving it.
During his chat with ‘Mighty Mouse’, Faber disclosed that the UFC authorities matched him up as McGregor’s rival coach since they couldn’t come up with someone more appropriate. On top of it, ‘The California Kid’ also revealed that White wanted him for the on-show “banters” with McGregor instead of treating him as a future rival for ‘The Notorious’. Faber said,
“They needed somebody who could hang with Conor in banter and clout at the time. There was a time when me and him [McGregor] were both trying to get the fight. But Dana said, ‘It’s not gonna happen’”.
The current scenario details that Faber’s wish to fight Conor won’t materialize anymore since he retired years back. However, the UFC authorities have returned to following their tradition once again and McGregor’s upcoming fight in the UFC bears testimony to this fact.
Michael Chandler will fight Conor McGregor for being his TUF 31 rival coach unlike Urijah Faber
McGregor appeared as a coach once more in 2023’s installment of The Ultimate Fighter, where he locked horns against ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler’s team and emerged victorious. However, Chandler was trapped in a spot like Faber when McGregor hinted that he could make his comeback against someone else. Even fans doubted whether Chandler would get to fight McGregor even after ‘Mystic Mac’s early 2024 confirmation about ‘Iron’ being his return fight rival.
Well, the UFC’s official confirmation about the McGregor vs. Chandler fight being the headliner of UFC 303 will surely have ‘Iron’ feeling relieved. It also details that Faber was really unlucky not to get his shot at fighting Conor McGregor
