Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdelaziz has revealed that the UFC were recently trying to get the lightweight champion to star as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter opposite Conor McGregor.
“Last week Dana White called me,” Abdelaziz told TMZ Sports. “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].”
It could well be that this is the “something fun” that White claimed to have lined up for McGregor in the near future, but if so he’ll have to think again as Abdelaziz said Nurmagomedov has absolutely no interest in the idea.
“I talked with Khabib yesterday,” Abelaziz said. “He said, ‘This man is human trash. He’s like garbage. When you touch sh*t, you smell sh*t.’ He said, ‘He doesn’t earn the fight. You understand? He doesn’t earn the fight.’
“Listen, if Justin wins, whatever, and he wants the easy payday, yeah, go ahead and fight Conor if you want. But I don’t know if even Conor still in the conversations because Justin said, ‘I gotta give him an opportunity,’ but he didn’t want the fight.”
Abdelaziz went on to indicate that some of his other clients could match-up against McGregor on TUF if thy wanted it, but again underlined the fact that not only is there no chance of Nurmagomedov participating on the show, but also that a potential rematch with the lightweight kingpin is also no longer a possibility.
“…Hey, if he wants to do The Ultimate Fighter he can. If he wants to do Kamaru Usman, The Ultimate Fighter with Khamzat Chimaev, yes he can. If Justin choose to, that’s okay too.
“He can forget about Khabib. He can forget about the rematch. Done. Dead. Never. Khabib will never fight him.”
