Conor McGregor, Urijah Faber coach Season 22 of 'The Ultimate Fighter' – U.S. vs. Europe

Conor McGregor

LAS VEGAS – The fall season of “The Ultimate Fighter” is set, and arguably the UFC’s biggest star will be one of the coaches.

UFC President Dana White today announced new interim featherweight champion Conor McGregor will coach Season 22 of the long-running reality competition series against former WEC champion Urijah Faber in a season that will feature lightweight fighters from America against their counterparts from across Europe.

White, however, said unlike many seasons of the show, the two coaches won’t fight each other at the conclusion. Perhaps coincidentally, Faber and McGregor had a run-in on Friday prior to the weigh-ins for UFC 189, which took place Saturday in Las Vegas. In the main event, McGregor beat Faber’s teammate Chad Mendes for the interim 145-pound belt.

After the encounter with McGregor, Faber said the Irishman looked like “a crackhead.”

Faber recently moved back to featherweight after a long run at bantamweight, and he and McGregor have to be considered rivals given McGregor at one point or another seems to have talked trash about every featherweight in the UFC. A fight between the two may take place one day, but if fans want to see it, they may have to settle for verbal sparring on “TUF 22? this fall to hold them over.

The show is set to premier on Sept. 9 on FOX Sports 1 with a two-hour season debut episode. White said 16 lightweights will be on the show – eight from the States, and eight from Europe.

“They’re just coaching and mentoring, but the best decision was to get Conor to coach the Europeans,” White said on tonight’s live broadcast of the TUF 21 Finale on FOX Sports 1.

Faber (32-8 MMA, 8-4 UFC) lost a unanimous decision to former lightweight champ Frankie Edgar in May in his return to featherweight, snapping a two-fight winning streak of submissions. It was the first loss in Faber’s career to not take place in a title fight.

McGregor (18-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) was scheduled to fight featherweight champ Jose Aldo at UFC 189, but the Brazilian pulled out the week before the fight with a rib injury. McGregor won the interim belt with a second-round TKO of Mendes, setting up a title unification fight at some point against Aldo. White said after UFC 189 that fight is likely to take place in Las Vegas, despite the UFC having a card set for McGregor’s home city of Dublin in Ireland this fall.