After waiting more than a year for his fight against Conor McGregor to finally get scheduled, Michael Chandler understands the stakes for UFC 303.
It’s been a long wait for three-time Bellator lightweight champion to get his hands on McGregor after coaching on The Ultimate Fighter 31 in early 2023. From McGregor’s drama with the UFC’s anti-doping program to the Irishman’s recent promotional tour for the Road House remake, Chandler has patiently waited for the chance to get back to his primary business, which is fighting.
While he admits there were a few worrying moments when he wondered if the fight would actually happen, Chandler has no doubts now that McGregor will show up on June 29.
“I might have some doubts that he’s training as hard as me,” Chandler said on The MMA Hour. “I might have some doubts that he is taking as serious as me. I’m a guy that doesn’t have too big of an ego to give my opponent, the man who I want to dismantle, to give him some props. He’s had multiple opponents in the past pull out, short notice. [Nate] Diaz, which he lost by the way. [Jose] Aldo pulls out, he fights Chad Mendes.
“When he signs his name to the dotted line, yeah, he’s going to throw some smoke and mirrors, yeah, he’s going to troll — he trolled you, he trolled me, he trolled everybody. He’s a showman. He likes to be the puppet master. He likes to get the reactions. But when it comes down to it, Conor McGregor, the Mac is back, the greatest comeback in combat sports history that he has been talking about now for this long, it’s on this date, he has signed the contract. The man will show up.
“It’s going to be an act of God or a ridiculous crazy set of circumstances for him not to show up. That’s my personal opinion.”
Assuming disaster doesn’t strike, McGregor’s return happens almost exactly three years after he suffered a devastating broken leg in his most recent outing against Dustin Poirier in 2021. It’s been a long road back for the Irish superstar after dealing with an injury that forever altered the course for former champions like Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman.
In particular, Silva never quite looked the same after he suffered a similar leg break. His UFC tenure ended with a 1-5 record and one no-contest in his final seven octagon fights.
McGregor also turns 36 just two weeks after UFC 303, so time isn’t on his side.
That’s why Chandler believes UFC 303 will be the can’t-miss moment of the year in combat sports, because either McGregor proves he’s really back with a stunning performance, or he potentially limps out of the octagon for the final time in his career.
“I’ve said — and I’ve gone on record now saying — everybody has to buy this pay-per-view, because one of two things is going to happen,” Chandler said. “Conor succeeds in coming back and it being the greatest comeback in combat sports history, he gets a win and he’s back on the horse. He’s back in the win column and he’s probably fighting a huge, huge fight, whether it’s the ‘BMF’ belt, whether it’s the lightweight title, whether it’s the welterweight title, it’s something. That’s scenario one.
“The most likely scenario is I go out there and absolutely dismantle him and it might be the last time we ever see Conor fight.”
Chandler promises he’s not making that declaration because he expects McGregor to call it a career, but he knows the former two-division champion has always taken pride in being one of the best fighters on the planet whenever he competes.
If McGregor can no longer measure up in that regard, he might not have a reason to stick around after UFC 303 is finished.
“I don’t say that with ill will, saying I’m going to retire him, I’m going to put him in a body bag, all these different things,” Chandler said. “We’ll see where he stacks up in the world of the high-class fighters in this division, whether it be 155 or 170. I’m a top-ranked guy. The new rankings came out, I kind of dipped a little bit now. Top seven. So we’ll see where he stacks up.
“It could be the last time we ever see him. So people have to buy the pay-per-view because it could be the last time you see Conor, and you see me climb up to the next rung, and then there’s bigger and brighter lights on me after this fight.”
It might be do-or-die for McGregor on June 29, but Chandler promises the stakes are just as high for him.
“I can’t lose to the guy that’s been out for three years,” Chandler said. “I can’t lose to the guy who’s been written off. I can’t lose to the guy who gave up and he’s sleeping on silk sheets on his Lamborghini yacht. I can’t lose to that guy. So there’s a lot of pressure going on.”
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