Conor McGregor declares victory over Michael Chandler after TUF 31 finals at UFC 292

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 31: “Team McGregor vs. Team Chandler” wrapped its season up on Saturday night (Aug. 19, 2023) at UFC 292 in Boston, Massachusetts. Both the Lightweight and Bantamweight tournament finals were held during the “Prelims” on ESPN (full results here), with Kurt Holobaugh and Brad Katona winning their brackets, respectively.

Katona trains out of SBG Ireland, same as McGregor. For the final, he was cornered by McGregor’s head coach, John Kavanagh. And for a while on TUF 31, he repped Team McGregor. But, that was only after Team Chandler’s veterans — one of whom was Katona — nearly swept Team McGregor’s newcomers 7-1 in the quarterfinals. Katona was then swapped to Team McGregor so “The Notorious” had more to do on the show.

With that in mind, it’s somewhat amusing to see McGregor’s take on which team really won TUF 31.

“And just like that, Team McGregor and SBG Ireland wins The Ultimate Fighter!” McGregor tweeted. “Excellent performance Brad Katona, now the Champ Champ of The Ultimate Fighter! Incredible! Team and gym full of double champions.”

McGregor also threw some trash talk Holobaugh’s way. Indeed, Holobaugh had beaten Lee Hammond — one of McGregor’s hand-picked TUF fighters — in the quarterfinals via second round submission, sparking a wild scene on the show.

“Lee Hammond was cruise sailing to victory over Hobo,” McGregor wrote in another tweet. “It was so easy it was too f—ing easy. We call for the rematch now, Dana White. Lee was the real star of the UFC LW contestants and kicked and punched Kurt around easily. Rematch time! Well done Team SBG, Team McGregor.”

McGregor also retweeted coach Kavanagh’s assessment of the season.

“Team Chandler wins 155 trophy, Team McGregor wins 135 trophy,” Kavanaugh declared. “The only other competition was the coaches challenge which Conor McGregor won. So 2-1 to Team McGregor, congratulations Conor winning this season of The Ultimate Fighter!”

Internet bluster aside, it cannot be denied that Team Chandler dominated TUF 31. You can mention reasons for this that both defend and damn Team McGregor’s performance. The Irish sports star was shackled by a dumb team concept that saddled him with newcomers against hardened veterans. He also skipped out on almost every morning training session.

Whatever — no one really cares that much. But, don’t p— on us and say it’s raining.

Fortunately, there’s a very simple way for McGregor and Chandler to sort out bragging rights for TUF 31: a real fight! The two are expected to fight sometime soon, although McGregor’s erratic behavior and refusal to enter the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug testing pool is calling that bout into question.

Following UFC 292, Dana White simply said he had no update on the potential date. McGregor promised he’d break Chandler’s head, but all this big social media talk is getting cheap without action to back it up.

It’s a bad joke, really.

For complete UFC 292 results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.