Conor McGregor hit out at UFC rival Michael Chandler and insisted their fight will take place before the end of the year.
The UFC legend recently coached alongside Chandler on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter to help promote their upcoming fight, which doesn't have an official date yet. The bout is expected to take place at UFC 296 on December 16, but this date has been jeopardised by McGregor's uncertain status in the USADA testing pool as he still needs to complete six months of mandatory drug testing.
McGregor mocked Chandler on Twitter whilst watching UFC 290 on Saturday night by tweeting a picture of himself pushing the American during their heated face-off on the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter. “It’s official! Chandler is an idiot sandwich," McGregor wrote before adding: "I’m going to take him to the third and torture him."
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One fan then asked McGregor when his UFC return will take place and he replied "December" before later deleting the tweet. McGregor would only be able to fight in December if he is granted an exemption by USADA, but the organisation has insisted that McGregor would not qualify for special treatment. UFC boss Dana White admitted gave an update on McGregor's octagon return and admitted the Irishman is yet to re-enter the USADA testing pool.
"He's not [in the pool]. We’ll see how that plays out… I don’t talk about s*** until s*** happens. To sit here and think hypothetically how a million different things could happen, no idea. UFC 300 isn’t even on my mind right now. The Conor thing, who the hell knows how that’s gonna play out? Who cares what USADA says? We’ll see what happens when it happens. So, I don’t know," he told TSN.
McGregor is currently going through a dismal run of form on The Ultimate Fighter as Team Chandler has won six consecutive fights on the series. Things turned ugly in the latest episode when McGregor took issue with Chandler questioning his coaching commitments, which led to the Irishman squaring up to his rival.
Chandler insisted he was ready to fight McGregor there and then after the push, stating: “He starts taking off his coat, and I’m like, okay, what, we’re going to fight right here? Obviously, you never quite know what’s going to happen. We’re on a reality show, but it’s also two dudes who want to fight each other. So I was ready for anything, and obviously, I was ready to fight right there if we had to."
