Conor McGregor is back for “The Ultimate Fighter 31,” but has allegedly caused a stir behind the scenes.
McGregor, who is coaching opposite Michael Chandler in the upcoming season of ‘TUF’ which is currently filming in Las Vegas, was accused of removing fighters already in the contestant pool to replace them with fighters from his own stable.
Well-known MMA manager Daniel Rubenstein and UFC middleweight Chris Curtis were among those who publicly stated McGregor influenced the casting, although the former two-division UFC champion denied the claim.
It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for the biggest star in the UFC to have some input on the reality series that he’s coaching in, but if it did happen, what message does that send to the fighters who were expecting to fight their way to a UFC contract? Could it have been the nature of reality television that deals with unexpected changes and McGregor was an easy target to blame?
Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Mike Bohn, Nolan King and Brian “Goze” Garcia discuss the topic along with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.
Check out their discussion in the video above, and be sure to check out this week’s full episode below.
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2023/02/discussing-conor-mcgregor-the-ultimate-fighter-31-casting-controversy
