The Ultimate Fighter Season 31 featuring Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler is currently in full swing. While the weekly episodes have entertained the fans so far, the ratings for the show have failed to match McGregor’s appearance in TUF 22. However, what drove the fans crazy, was the announcement that Chandler would be facing Conor McGregor after the culmination of the show.
Both Chandler and McGregor are risk takers inside Octagon and the bout promises to be an interesting one. While The Notorious One has had much bigger fights before in his career, this will be the biggest fight of Michael Chandler’s career for sure! Hence, Iron Mike has been active on social media calling out the former UFC double champion. If the fight were to take place, how would it go down?
During a recent episode of his podcast, Michael Chandler revealed the weapon he would use against Conor McGregor. To no one’s surprise, it is his wrestling. Judging by his recent fights in the UFC, fans may not know that Michael Chandler is a great wrestler with amazing credentials. According to his bio available on his official website, Chandler wrestled out of the University of Missouri with All-American honors.
Describing how he would handle McGregor on the ground, Michael Chandler added, “There’s no doubt, I mean I would murder him on the ground, I think… The thing about him too is he’s very rangy, in and out. He negotiates and navigates the distance very well. So that’s why he has not been taken down a lot in his fights. So I think he does a good job of coming into the pocket, bouncing out of the pocket, hitting guys with follow-up shots or with I guess counterstrikes if you will.”
But Chandler also spoke about the famous left hand that Conor McGregor has. The 37-year-old discussed the many knockouts McGregor has scored throughout his career, including the one against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. So it certainly does not look like Chandler is taking the 34-year-old lightly. But, the main question is, will the bout happen? Let’s find out.
Will Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler happen in 2023?
Conor McGregor has been an incredibly divisive character in the MMA community and sports in general. Earlier in June, he attended the 4th NFL finals game between the eventual winners Denver Nuggets, and the runners-up Miami Heat. After the game, news broke that McGregor had allegedly r*ped an unknown woman inside the men’s washroom.
But, his team denied all the allegations after the alleged victim asked for a settlement. On top of that, Conor has also missed the deadline to be in the USADA testing pool for being eligible to fight at the last PPV of the year, UFC 296. Hence, it is looking increasingly unlikely that Conor will indeed fight Michael Chandler in 2023. However, in a recent meet-up with the fans, Conor revealed that he was looking to fight as soon as possible.
So why do you think fans have not seen the former lightweight champ in the Octagon just yet? Will he make the last PPV of the year? Let us know in the comments down below.