Conor McGregor will combat once more sometime. And Michael Chandler can be ready for him.
Saturday’s UFC 303 occasion was initially set to be headlined by McGregor and Chandler going through off in a welterweight bout, the fruits of an extended rivalry that included quite a few jabs on social media and in interviews, in addition to a stint as opposing coaches on The Final Fighter 31. However the June 29 reserving ultimately unraveled in deflating style, as McGregor first pulled out of a press convention in Dublin after which withdrew from the combat with a toe damage.
At present, McGregor’s comeback from a three-year hiatus stays in limbo and he has been non-committal about making the Chandler combat occur.
Chandler isn’t discouraged by something McGregor has to say in regards to the matter.
“I didn’t even actually give it some thought a lot,” Chandler mentioned throughout a backstage scrum at UFC 303 in Las Vegas. “He tried to steal my tagline although, I see what he did there with the, ‘See you on the prime.’ I’m not likely that fearful about it. Conor can’t— at this level, and I’ve mentioned this publicly, I’m not letting him off the hook. For some time there, yeah, in fact he would like to combat any individual aside from Michael Chandler, with what I deliver to the octagon.
“I feel there’s no approach he comes again to the UFC and doesn’t combat me. So if I do pivot, if there are different names being thrown out, if there are big fights that I can go forward and pivot and take, every time he is able to come again, his street again to the UFC goes straight via Nashville, Tennessee, and Michael Chandler — and that’s it.”
The severity of McGregor’s damage has come underneath scrutiny, contemplating his fame for hardly ever pulling out of fights all through his 16-year profession. When McGregor revealed that the damage occurred to his pinky toe, he obtained little sympathy, particularly given his harsh criticism of different fighters who’ve been affected by accidents up to now.
Chandler declined to take pictures at McGregor and his damaged pinky toe, as a substitute how McGregor’s withdrawal displays upon his personal fame.
“It is also simply considerably of a feather in my cap,” Chandler mentioned. “If Conor was lined up towards numerous different guys, he most likely would have pushed via and fought. However you don’t wish to combat a man like me with any form of accidents. He’s going to return into the subsequent combat, every time it’s, with bumps and bruises. Clearly, he was hobbling round on it and doubtless mentioned, ‘I might combat, however I’m not combating that man.’ We’ll simply determine it out as we go.”
Chandler has been out of motion for a while as effectively, most lately having fought at UFC 291 in November 2022 when he misplaced by submission to Dustin Poirier. Although he hasn’t been cashing any combat purses, Chandler insisted he’s doing effectively financially based mostly on enterprise pursuits outdoors of UFC.
Different names have been advised for Chandler, together with previous opponent Charles Oliveira and reigning “BMF” champion Max Holloway, however he mentioned no formal gives have been made. He’s sure that the McGregor combat will occur ultimately, and when it does, it can arguably be the largest feel-good second of his combating profession.
“On the very onset of this course of, that measurement of a combat with that quantity of eyeballs, that’s what we’re striving to as blended martial artists,” Chandler mentioned. “We get into this sport to be one of the best and to be on the largest levels underneath the brightest lights on the largest platforms, and that checks all containers.
“Now, particularly with the storyline, with the intrigue, ready within the wings, the buildup, the marination of this complete factor, yeah, I feel it’s going to be very satisfying once I make true on my phrase to indicate up every time the subsequent date is and knock him out. It was going to be the second spherical and now he lit a hearth underneath me, it’s most likely going to be the primary spherical.”
