UFC: Tony Ferguson could be the opposing coach to Conor McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter

May 7, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Tony Ferguson during UFC 274 at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this week, former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor (22-6) said that he had been offered a coaching gig for The Ultimate Fighter. McGregor said he liked the idea to return to coaching after he coached opposite Urijah Faber years ago.

The UFC’s cash cow is expected to make his octagon return sometime over the summer. In sending some feelers out there, there were rumors that Michael Chandler or Jorge Masvidal could be candidates to coach opposite McGregor. Of course, whoever coaches against him would face off against McGregor in the summer.

However, there appears to be another candidate that makes a lot of sense. Former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson (25-8) posted on Instagram and said that he has also been offered the coaching gig for The Ultimate Fighter.

UFC booking McGregor – Ferguson?

After seeing El Cucuy’s post last night, it really got me thinking about that possibility. In actuality, it makes a lot of sense. There’s always been this rivalry between Ferguson and McGregor that we have never seen play out inside the octagon.

At one point, Ferguson was the interim champion while McGregor was the undisputed champion. It looked like the UFC was going to make that fight happen. However, the Floyd Mayweather boxing match happened and McGregor ultimately vacated the lightweight strap.

Ferguson lost his interim title after he was stripped due to an injury which led to Khabib Nurmagomedov becoming the lightweight champion at the time. Ferguson has never made his way back to UFC gold and neither has McGregor.

El Cucuy frequently called for the fight against McGregor, but it never came to fruition. Now, it might not be a bad time to make the fight. McGregor is coming off a near two-year layoff after breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in their third fight.

Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson is on a five-fight losing streak. Granted, the opponents have been Nate Diaz, Michael Chandler, Beneil Dariush, Charles Oliveira, and Justin Gaethje. Not exactly easy competition. Ferguson would provide an entertaining yet easier step back into competition for McGregor.

The back-and-forth between the two would be a lot of fun and honestly, Ferguson deserves the platform as much as McGregor. Will be interesting to see if we start to see some fire around all this smoke.