Report: Khabib Nurmagomedov Turned Down TUF Gig With Conor McGregor
Khabib Nurmagomedov is not interested in coaching opposite Conor McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter.
It was revealed a few months ago that TUF will return. The UFC reportedly discussed having UFC lightweight champion Nurmagomedov and former two-division UFC champion McGregor as coaches.
Ali Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov’s manager, says the UFC recently contacted him about having Nurmagomedov coach opposite of McGregor on the reality series.
“Last week Dana White called me,” Abdelaziz said to TMZ Sports (via Alexander K. Lee of MMA Fighting). “He said, ‘Ali, what do you think if Khabib win, him and Conor do The Ultimate Fighter on ESPN?’ This is breaking news. I said, ‘I don’t know. I’ll think about it.’ And he said, of course, [vice versa] if Justin win. It would be Khabib vs. Conor on The Ultimate Fighter, coaching. It would have been f*cking huge. Probably would have went to the hospital because he would have beat his ass and his whole team. Or Justin Gaethje vs. [McGregor].”
Abdelaziz revealed to TMZ Sports that Nurmagomedov turned the opportunity down, thanks to his dislike for McGregor. “The Eagle” defeated McGregor by fourth-round submission at UFC 229. The agent to the stars also revealed that Nurmagomedov did not like how McGregor leaked his private DMs with UFC President Dana White.
“First of all, you know, as a man, the golden rule is if you have a private conversation with another man, you should never put this online,” Abdelaziz said. “This is a complete – a made-bitch, you understand? This is like a real-life bitch, like I’ve always been saying for all these years. I have a lot of text messages about people I don’t like, but I will never put it out there because it’s not even right to put it out there – it’s wrong. Second of all, January 2020 – actually, December 2019, we wanted to fight Conor. Conor said he’s not ready yet. When [Gaethje] heard he wanted to fight in January, Justin Gaethje, he was higher ranked than [Donald] ‘Cowboy’ [Cerrone] by far, and he choose to fight Cowboy instead of Justin. Justin called him out on social media. Not one time we saw Conor respond to him.”
Nurmagomedov is back in action at UFC 254, facing UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje in a title unification bout.
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