Is Conor McGregor Fighting Michael Chandler After TUF 31? All The Ultimate Fighter Seasons Where Coaches Didn’t Fight Each Other

For UFC fans all around the world, UFC is all set to come back with yet another season of The Ultimate Fighter. The premiere of the show is scheduled for May 30 on ESPN and ESPN+. The audience will get to see the reality series every Tuesday. In The Ultimate Fighter Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler will take up the position of coach. This time it’s all the more exciting as Conor McGregor is expected to fight Michael Chandler after The Ultimate Fighter season 31 is over.

According to MMA Journalist Ariel Helwani, the bout could get scheduled in September, which even fits well with McGregor’s USADA timeline. However, once the fans look back, they might find some seasons where the coaches didn’t fight.

The fights between the coaches in TUF that never happened

One of the factors that attract the viewers mostly to The Ultimate Fighter is the matchup between the coaches. However, in seasons two, four, eleven, thirteen, fifteen, sixteen, and twenty-two, the much-awaited face-off between the coaches didn’t take place. In season two, the fight between coaches Rich Franklin and Matt Hughes never happened; because they both belonged to different weight divisions.

Hence, it was quite clear from the beginning that they were not going to square off. However, in season four, there were no fixed coaches, which pushed away the fight between the coaches. When it comes to the 11th season, it was quite unfortunate as the neck fusion surgery of Tito Ortiz came in between a prospective fight between him and Chuck Liddell.

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It was Brock Lesnar’s gastro-intestinal disease that resulted in the cancellation of the fight between him and Junior dos Santos in season 13. Further, in TUF 15, the ACL injury to Dominick Cruz came in between the fight between him and Urijah Faber. In the TUF 16, too, it was the health issues of one of the coaches that came in the way. The coaches of the season were Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin. However, due to Carwin’s knee injury, the fight was canceled.

31st season of The Ultimate Fighter

The most disappointing cancellation of the fight between coaches took place in season twenty-two. For TUF 22, the fight between Conor McGregor and Urijah Faber was finalized. Nonetheless, it got canceled, as the Irishman was the then UFC Interim Featherweight Champion and, as per the pattern of the UFC, he had to fight the Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo.

The bout between the coaches is indeed the most important aspect of the show; even though it does not always come to fruition. It is indeed an interesting event that keeps the audience more glued to the screen. However, the UFC community can now wait and watch the possibility of a fight between ‘The Notorious’ and Chandler in TUF 31.

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