Did Brandon Jenkins get removed from TUF 31 by Conor McGregor? Here’s what the fighter claims

On the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, i.e. TUF 31, it was reported that three contestants on the show had been removed to make room for Conor McGregor's teammates. According to MMA manager Daniel Rubenstein; Ken Cross, Mitch Ramirez and Brandon Jenkins were pulled off the show to make room for three of McGregor's Straight Blast Gym (SBG) teammates.

Brandon Jenkins had a failed UFC stint where he got finished in two back-to-back bouts before being released from the organization. The appearance on TUF 31 would have been Jenkins' second chance at pursuing a UFC career. If what is being reported about McGregor is true, then 'The Human Highlight Reel' just found himself having the worst luck with regards to his fighting career.

Brandon Jenkins confirmed that he was pulled from the show through a meme he posted on Twitter:

Jenkins' meme had Conor McGregor's face morphed onto the 'Scumbag Steve' meme with the following caption:

UFC fighters like Chris Curtis and Adrian Yanez also claimed that McGregor had three fighters removed from the show to make room for his teammates. Middleweight Chris Curtis shared an article by MMA Mania covering the incident with the following tweet:

Bantamweight Yanez replied to Chris Curtis confirming the middleweight fighter's accusations of the Irish superstar, with the following tweet:

Gilbert Burns came out with a tweet claiming that one of his teammates - a man not named in the aforementioned three fighters - was sidelined by one of McGregor's guys. Here's the tweet:

Conor McGregor, in a now-deleted tweet, replied to Chris Curtis refuting the allegations.

When Conor McGregor's teammate Artem Lobov was brought back on TUF 22

In TUF 22, Conor McGregor coached team Europe against Urijah Faber's team America. In the entry fights for team Europe, McGregor's former teammate Artem Lobov faced off against Mehdi Baghdad and lost a two-round decision.

Technically, Artem Lobov shouldn't have competed this season, but Dana White decided to bring two fighters back onto the show. Lobov was brought back on McGregor's request to compete for team Europe.

Lobov went on to have a successful run this season, finishing Chris Gruetzemacher and Julian Erosa to meet Ryan Hall in the finals. However, he lost a three-round unanimous decision to 'The Wizard' in the season finale.

Where McGregor is alleged to have had three fighters removed for his teammates on TUF 31, he didn't go out of his way to have Lobov replace anyone on TUF 22.

About the author

Rahil Ahmed is a writer and content marketer by profession with experience writing about Cryptocurrency and Blockchain, politics and educational technology. He joined Sportskeeda as a writer covering UFC and MMA content in the fall of 2022.

Rahil has keen eyes for the sport of MMA, having avidly followed the same since 2014. He is a practitioner of martial arts with 7 years of experience training Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and the rank of a blue belt. He has competed in and won (gold and silver) at several national-level sports jiu-jitsu tournaments in India.

Apart from work and training, Rahil is also a musician of more than 15 years with 12+ years of experience playing live. He is a founding member and bassist of the Bangalore-based prog-metal band 'Maneating Orchid'.

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