Dana White announces Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler to coach TUF 31, will fight at season’s end
It appears The Ultimate Fighter is back once again, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship has named their two coaches for the 31st American installment of the show.
Those two coaches are former UFC featherweight & lightweight champion Conor McGregor (22-6) and former three-
time Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler (23-8).
This season is to debut on May 30, 2023, and will be finalized by August 15, 2023.
We all thought The Ultimate Fighter was a show of the past for some time there, as the UFC didn’t create a new season for nearly three years following TUF 28, a season where heavyweights and women’s featherweights were coached by Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum.
That season aired on August 29, 2018, and TUF 30 wouldn’t come around until June 1, 2021.
TUF 30 was coached by UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega, who coached bantamweights and middleweights; not exactly a season that got fans excited.
This was the big return of The Ultimate Fighter, and they dropped the ball on this one in the eyes of many fans.
The UFC then decided to book UFC bantamweight champions Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes to coach a season of heavyweights and women’s flyweights. Again, though Pena pulled off the Upset of the Year in her submission win over Nunes that saw her capture the title, fans weren’t too ecstatic for this season.
But, The Ultimate Fighter 31 is to be much, much different than the previous seasons, as the biggest star in the history of the sport Conor McGregor coaches against one of the most exciting fighters to watch of all-time in Michael Chandler.
And they’ll fight at the end of the season at either 155 lbs or 170 lbs.
That, along with the date they will fight, has not yet been decided.
UFC President Dana White had the following to say on the matter:
BOOOOOOM!!!!! 2023 is goin to be a fun year pic.twitter.com/30RpYmLeiy
— danawhite (@danawhite) February 4, 2023
“We just confirmed the coaches for season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter. Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler will go head-to-head as the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter: Team McGregor vs Team Chandler. This season premieres Tuesday, May 30th and runs through Tuesday, August 15th on ESPN the Network, and ESPN+.
“At the end of the season, McGregor and Chandler will fight live on ESPN+ Pay-Per-View. I do not have a date or location for that, but we’ll announce it soon.”
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