Conor McGregor has hit back at claims that he is selecting fighters to coach in The Ultimate Fighter.
The Notorious has not fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in the summer of 2021, but is set to face Michael Chandler later this year.
But prior to their bout, McGregor and the American will go head-to-head as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter.
READ MORE: Conor McGregor gives sneak peek behind the scenes at UFC HQ as he prepares for The Ultimate Fighter
MMA manager Daniel Rubenstein alleged online that three fighters had already been removed from the roster to make way for three of the McGregor's own fighting prospects.
He tweeted: “Ken Cross, Mitch Ramirez and Brandon Jenkins all got pulled off to make room for three of Conor’s guys to be on the show." UFC middleweight Ken Curtis then furthered the claims when responding to the story on social media, adding: "Most definitely true. What a f***ing a**hole."
But McGregor was quick to deny the allegation, replying and later deleting: "Not true. I only know one guy on this show and he put himself forward for it. And he is now, after today, set to fight the No. 1 seed! I didn’t ask nor request nothing! And I certainly didn’t have people removed. I’m just trying to get back in the mix myself so f*** off.”
The Dubliner previously coached on TUF against Urijah Faber back in 2015, but Chandler is confident that his fighters can get the better of those of McGregor's.
"Conor is the fight that I wanted, he has expressed interest in wanting to fight me and now here we are," Chandler said on his YouTube channel. "The competition starts right now. We're going to be stuck together in the same city for a month, or month and a half, but the competition is 24/7 the entire time. I want to win this thing; I don't want to beat Conor later this year, I want to beat Conor badly on TUF. I don't even want him to win a fight."
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