Conor McGregor won't train 'TUF 22' cast members much, if at all

Cast members on the soon-to-debut season of “The Ultimate Fighter” may be disappointed if they were hoping to get much training time with UFC interim featherweight champion Conor McGregor.

In a promo video to hype Wednesday’s “TUF 22” debut on FOX Sports 1, “Team Europe” coach McGregor laid it out plain, saying, “I’m not going to be really hands-on in the gym.” The Irish superstar also made it clear he doesn’t want anyone to buy into the hype of a rivalry against the Urijah Faber-coached “Team USA.”

“I brought them in the other day, and I told them, ‘Forget Team Europe. Forget Team USA,’” McGregor said. “It’s fake, and it’s fabricated. It’s all fabricated bullsh-t in this business. I told them to remember their team back home. Remember their families. Remember why they’re here. They are here for their people back home, their families and their financial security. All the rest of it is absolutely nothing. I explained that to them.”

So why is McGregor there?

“I’m simply going to provide the platform for them,” he said. “I’m going to bring the eyes to the screen for them. I’m going to provide coaches that I have come up with. But, really, it’s a six-week run of fights on and off. The training is done. I’m not going to go in and teach them anything. Their training should already be done. You should already have your hard rounds done. Now, it’s about keeping the body fresh.”

McGregor has other plans that are unconventional for coaches on the reality show. Mainly, he intends to skip most, if not all, of the training sessions for his team.

“I’m not going to be at every training session, if I’m even going to be at any training session,” McGregor said. “I’m just going to be there picking the fights and doing that obligation, and I’ll be at the fights. But I have my team of coaches that will be preparing them and I truly believe that they will give them the right training.”

Check out the full conversation above.

Up next for McGregor (18-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) is a title-unification bout with featherweight champ Jose Aldo (25-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC). The pay-per-view title fight headlines UFC 194 on Dec. 12.

For more on UFC 194, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.