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Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach, Javier Mendez, shared his thoughts on Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson potentially serving as rival coaches on The Ultimate Fighter.
It was a norm for the TUF coaches to fight each other after the season's conclusion. That dynamic seems to be changing now with Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen serving as rival coaches on TUF 33.
In the recent episode of the Javier and Mo Show podcast, Mendez was asked if he believes Nurmagomedov and Ferguson can join a future season of TUF. Mendez replied:
"The only way I see this happening is if Khabib has the time and the desire to do it. He's so busy. I don't get to see the guy. He has many things he's doing, and he's a great businessman, a great father... So, he has many things on his plate. So if it's on his Radar, and this is what he wants to do and it's offered to him, him and Tony would be unbelievable. We'd love to see it."
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He added:
"We would love to see the banter because I like Tony. I think he's funny."
Check out Javier Mendez's comments below (40:58):
The idea of Nurmagomedov and Ferguson coaching opposite each other had been floated several times during the peak of their competitive MMA careers.
However, the primary reason for the show is to build hype for the fight between the rival coaches. Therefore, it is speculated that with the fight between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson falling through several times, it became risky to invest in a TUF Season and never came to fruition.
Javier Mendez on whether he would be a part of Khabib Nurmagomedov's coaching team on TUF
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson is one of the most anticipated UFC fights that never happened. While fights between them were scheduled on four different occasions, they kept getting cancelled until Nurmagomedov's eventual retirement from competitive MMA.
Speaking further in the aforementioned episode of the Javier and Mo Show podcast, Javier Mendez expressed an optimistic view about the potential TUF Season involving the two and expressed his willingness to join Khabib's team of coaches, stating:
"The stars were not aligned for this particular fight. And, maybe they'll be aligned for them as coaches. But I don't know. I don't know if it has been offered. But I think if Khabib was interested, he would call me and say, 'Coach, we are going to do this. Okay, you ready?' and I would say, 'Okay.' Because, I'm definitely going to be one of the coaches. He's not going to leave me out. But I haven't heard anything about it. Doesn't mean it won't happen." [42:10]
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have been on completely different career trajectories in recent years. With the Dagestani fighter coaching and helping his teammates, such as Islam Makhachev, Usman and Umar Nurmagomedov, the idea of him prioritizing a TUF season seems unlikely at the moment.
