No one is more eager for Conor McGregor’s return to the octagon than Michael Chandler. Chandler, who last fought in November 2022, has been waiting for his chance to face McGregor after they coached against each other on The Ultimate Fighter 31. The show, which was filmed in early 2023 and aired from May to August, set the stage for a highly anticipated bout between the two fighters, which has been in the works for over a year.
Chandler discussed the situation during a media scrum at UFC 303, detailing the uncertainty and delays surrounding the fight. “For me, the last year and a half since I got the call in January of 2022 about The Ultimate Fighter, there was a little bit of certainty there doing The Ultimate Fighter. Originally it was, hey we’re going to fight in September after the show. Obviously, we know how that played out,” Chandler explained.
“They booked us for the following June. The last couple of weeks I honestly was just living in it. The press conference gets canceled… Then it was just rumors, the rumor mill. With an organization, a worldwide organization as big as the UFC, people are going to talk. People are going to speculate,” Chandler continued. “All the way up until the last moment when I got the call, Conor’s never pulled out of a fight whether it was an injury, whether it was whatever the circumstances. I stayed positive and stayed training and then I got the phone call.”
Chandler is confident that when McGregor returns, he will be his opponent. “I’m not really that worried about it. Conor can’t, at this point, and I’ve said this publicly, I’m not letting him off the hook,” Chandler said. “He’d love to come back and fight someone other than Michael Chandler with what I bring to the octagon. I think there’s no way he comes back to the UFC and doesn’t fight me.
“If I pivot, if others throw out names, if huge fights emerge that I can pivot and take, whenever he is ready to come back, his road back to the UFC will go straight through Nashville, Tennessee, and Michael Chandler. And that’s it.”
Citing sources close to McGregor, Chandler suggested a potential timeline for McGregor’s return. “Sources close to Conor I’m sure know that he’s going to be ready in September, August,” said Chandler.
With Chandler’s unwavering focus on facing McGregor, fans may soon witness the long-anticipated showdown.
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