Michael Chandler doesn’t see his Conor McGregor fight in jeopardy.
Chandler and McGregor recently wrapped up Season 31 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which continues to air Tuesdays on ESPN until Aug. 15. The pair are expected to fight at some point after the airing of the show.
After Justin Gaethje (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) knocked out Dustin Poirier to claim the “BMF” title at UFC 291, McGregor turned his attention to “The Highlight.” But an unfazed Chandler says it’s just another one of McGregor’s social media rants.
“The beautiful thing about mixed martial arts is it’s the what have you done for me lately business,” Chandler said on ESPN’s “After TUF.” “Everyone has a short-term memory and we all succumb to recency bias. So everyone’s like, ‘Man we just saw Justin Gaethje compete. He went out there and beat Dustin Poirier. Man, we want to see him fight this guy.’ Next week, there’s going to be another guy that has a great showing at any weight class and they’re going to want to see Conor fight him.
“Conor’s going to get his little Twitter fingers going on the weekends every single time there’s a fight and insert himself into the conversation, but I’m not really that worried about it. I believe the fight is happening. The fight makes too much sense for it not to happen. I’m still the most entertaining guy on the dadgum roster. Everybody wants to see (Conor have the) greatest comeback in combat sports history. So I think it’s going to be me and Conor. That’s it.”
With an official date and venue yet to be announced, there is doubt surrounding the matchup even happening. But despite all the uncertainty, Chandler is confident they eventually fight.
Additionally, McGregor has not gone back into the pool for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the UFC’s drug testing partner. The regulations are for a fighter to be back in the test pool for six months after leaving it before being allowed to fight.
“There’s the build-up, the lead-up, ‘Ultimate Fighter,’ obviously me and him have already agreed to fight,” Chandler said. “He’s already done numerous interviews saying he is fighting me. Everybody wants answers and they want them quickly. Everybody wants to know who he’s fighting, when he’s fighting, when is he entering the USADA testing pool, what’s he doing with his personal life, what’s he doing with his business life.
“There’s so much surrounding all of this and everyone just wants answers. If we don’t get answers, we start to speculate. It’s going to be McGregor and Chandler. I’m not sure when that fight is going to be. I don’t even know what weight class it’s going to be. But either way, it’s going to happen and I’ll knock him out in the first two rounds.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.
