Conor ‘The Notorious’ McGregor will probably make his much anticipated return to the UFC octagon before the end of this year. McGregor has been out of action since suffering a nasty leg break in his fight against Dustin Poirier back in July 2021 at UFC 264.
Earlier this year McGregor had claimed to be medically fit to get back to active competition while also calling out some big names. One of which was Michael Chandler. Responding to the callout, the UFC didn’t take much time to materialize the mega showdown as president Dana White quickly made things official.
Ahead of their fight McGregor and Chandler will be seen competing against each other as coaches at the 31st edition of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. In fact the two have reportedly finished filming for the show and it is expected to air on ESPN from May 30th.
As of now their is no clear update as to when, where and at what weight class that fight will take place. As the uncertainty regarding that bout is increasing, former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen added fuel to the suspicion regarding Conor McGregor’s return. In a video uploaded on hos YouTube channel, Sonnen said
“We know nothing. We know that there’s no match, there’s no against Chandler, there’s no 155 pounds or 170 pounds.” The ‘Bad Guy’ continued,
“There’s no training camp at Big Bear, there in the middle of right now. Nothing that we’ve been told is accurate… Nothing else that we were told is true and turned out to be. These really aren’t our questions. He doesn’t need to fight, we’d like him to but it does affect an opponent who hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Sonnen continued his rant and even speculated that we might never see McGregor fighting again. “At some point Chandler is gonna wake up and realize I don’t have a fight coming up with Conor, which means I don’t have a fight coming up at all. I’m a prizefighter I got a family, it’s gonna be one of those situations at some point.”
He further added, But what does happen? Seems like a really good idea to me, seems like a really good match to me. What else would you like to see Chandler do and do you believe that Conor will come back but against somebody else? I mean, that’s where it gets tough. I mean, that’s where you do start to speculate. Well, maybe he’s not coming back.”
Can Conor McGregor defeat Michael Chandler?
Although Chandler is an excellent wrestler, if we take a look at all of his UFC matches, we find out that he can successfully trade and maintain a fight with anyone standing-up. With Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier, Chandler was a contender for Fight of the Year, and his knockout of Ferguson in 2022 won the Knockout of the Year award.
McGregor most likely wouldn’t choose a straightforward brawl with Chandler. He will probably hope that his precision and acute striking will eliminate the 37-year-old quickly. Despite the fact that the battle is at welterweight, McGregor could possess more strength than any opponent Chandler has previously faced.
