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It will only have been about a year and a half since Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler were first announced as opposing coaches on the Ultimate Fighter by the time they actually set foot in the Octagon to face off against one another.
In the time interceding, the UFC has burnt down its relationship with USADA, started their own drug testing program, watched McGregor court just about every other promotion and fight under the sun other than Chandler, and generally fail to put together the kind of really big, top end fights that define the Endeavor-owned combat sports organization’s biggest and brightest PPV events.
Michael Chandler expects to end Conor McGregor’s career
We finally have an official expected fight date, however. International Fight Week will play host to UFC superstar Conor McGregor’s first return to action since suffering a broken leg in his trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier back in 2021. The bout will be just the fifth for the ‘Notorious’ Irishman since winning lightweight gold over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. With such an unambitious competition schedule, it’s no surprise that many feel McGregor is running close to the end of his career.
In fact, if Michael Chandler has any say in the matter, fans will witness the 35-year-old’s final fight on June 29th in Las Vegas, NV. In a recent video for his YouTube channel, Chandler talked about his expectations for the bout.
“It’s going to be a big card, it’s going to be fun, and I finish Conor within the first two rounds. And after that? Probably end his career,” Chandler explained (transcript via MMA Fighting). “There’s just so much more than what people think about on the surface level. I want battlegrounds of epic proportions, I want to stand in the cage with that man, I want to break that man’s will; I want to break his jaw, I want to separate him from consciousness, completely flatline him inside the Octagon, and then we say farewell to the sport’s biggest star. Then we can go about our merry way.”
Conor McGregor says fight will be at middleweight
Michael Chandler’s video was recorded in response to a social media post made by McGregor on New Year’s Eve 2023. In it, the former two division champion stated that “The greatest comeback of all time will take place in Las Vegas, International Fight Week of June 29. The opponent, Michael Chandler—and the weight, Mr. Chandler, 185 lbs.”
In his own video response, Chandler talked about McGregor’s desire to have the bout up two full divisions from his normal competition weight—taking some blame for that decision on himself, for calling to fight the SBG Ireland talent at “your biggest, your baddest, and your best.”
“When it comes to 185, you’ve got to remember, there’s two reasons why it’s at 185,” Chandler said of the choice of division. “No. 1, Conor wants to continue the narrative that he’s bigger than he actually is. You guys think he’s bigger because of lights, camera angles, and a great photographer. … That’s No. 1.
“No. 2, you’ve got to remember, UFC 274, I kicked Tony Ferguson’s head clean off, I got on the microphone, and I said I want to up the stakes, I want to fight you at your biggest, your baddest, and your best. So naturally, Conor can’t say the fights at 155 [pounds], because he wants you guys to think he’s too big to make 155 — which isn’t true — and he also can’t say it’s at 170, because that means he’s not in control, since I originally called for the fight at 170. So naturally he says 185.”
Chandler went on to explain that he has no problem with the weight class, whatever it might end up being, just so long as he gets the fight. At this point, that has to remain a standing question since it seems neither man has actually signed a bout agreement yet. Hopefully this is the end of the McGregor/Chandler saga, but there’s a lot of time between now and June. Plenty of opportunities for further shenanigans.