SUMMARY
- Michael Chandler uploaded a YouTube video where he revealed several aspects of his upcoming fight against Conor McGregor.
- Chandler revealed he suffered a injury before a title bout.
Michael Chandler has posted two videos in two days on YouTube to give more insights about his upcoming fight against Conor McGregor. The fight, which is yet to be announced officially by the UFC, is set to take place on International Fight Week in June 2024.
In the first video, Chandler gave his first reaction to the announcement of the fight. McGregor announced the fight at the turn of the year through his social media. The Irish fighter claimed the fight was to be at Middleweight (185 lbs). This claim made fans believe that the announcement was a ruse.
Both McGregor and Chandler have never fought at 185. However, in the first video, Chandler explained why the fight could be taking place at 185. Moreover, Chandler even promised to bring pain to McGregor inside the Octagon.
In his second video, Chandler detailed his weight-cutting process. Considering the fight takes place at Middleweight, the approach for both fighters, who have spent most of their careers at Lightweight, will be different from their usual. Chandler claimed that Mcgregor wants people to believe he is big, however, ‘Iron’ is not bothered about his size. Let’s take a look at the several talking points from his second video.
Michael Chandler suffered an Achilles injury before his fight against Charles Oliveira
In the first few minutes, Chandler revealed how injuries sometimes affect the weight cut. He detailed his own experience from 2021. He said, “I can tell you this, I know I had a laceration on my Achilles tendon right before the uh Oliveira fight.
“Actually, the day that I got off the phone with the UFC that they said ‘you’re fighting Charles Oliveira in May’, it was like March, I was getting ready to go to training camp, I was already, I was out in San Diego. I stepped and slipped on uh some tiles and I just absolutely cut the back of my ankle. So, therefore, I wasn’t able to do a ton of cardio, wasn’t able to do any running, wasn’t even able to wear a shoe for eight weeks straight.”
Unfortunately for Chandler, he faced his first defeat in the UFC against Oliveira. The fighters met in May 2021 at UFC 262 for the vacant Lightweight title. Oliveira won the fight via TKO in the second round. The former Bellator Lightweight champion did not receive another UFC title opportunity.
Chandler doubts Conor McGregor’s strength
Chandler explained that they were just two fighters of a similar natural weight fighting at a higher weight category. He claimed that McGregor does not lift any heavy weights. ‘Iron’ challenged the viewers to tag him in a video of McGregor lifting heavy weights.
He said, “He’s a natural 155-pounder I am a 155-pounder and we would just be fighting at 185. So, he’s not stronger than me. I would like anybody in the comments to tag me in videos of him lifting heavy weights. Go out there and show me a video of Conor McGregor lifting heavy heavy weights. I actually looked before I actually got on this video you can’t find any videos of this man lifting heavy heavy weights.”
Chandler reiterated that McGregor is not stronger than him. He was confident that his hits were stronger and that there was nothing to worry about when it came to size.
Chandler added, “He’s not stronger than me. I hit harder than he does. I’m not worried about the size in this fight because he and I are relatively within 3 to five pounds of each other.”
Chandler’s ideology involved an example of Jon Jones. When ‘Bones’ moved to heavyweight from light heavyweight, videos of him lifting heavy weights in the gym surfaced. Chandler considered the difference between a heavyweight and 185lbs but reiterated how McGregor does not lift heavy.
Michael Chandler feels he won’t fight McGregor at 185 lbs
In the last few minutes, Chandler explained that he was ready for the fight to take place at 170 or even 155. Although Chandler strongly reasoned earlier for why the fight could take place at 185. He claimed that he is ready in case it does not work out.
He said, “I’ve already been thinking about this fight being at 170. I thought about the prospect of, if the fight does go to 155, I’m ready for that as well because I’ve done it 20 something times. Couple fights at 170 couple fights at catch weights but mainly 155.”
If this happens at 185,@TheNotoriousMMA would join Diego Sanchez & Kenny Florian as only fighters in UFC history to fight in 4 weight classes (only Florian won in four).
Sanchez & Florian both started at 185 and went down. McGregor started at 145 and has escalated.
📝 @MikeBohn pic.twitter.com/smYalKJQGk— skmma (@_skmma_) January 1, 2024
Except for a few Cachweight bouts and one Welterweight bout, Chandler has only fought in the Lightweight division. On the other hand, McGregor has fought in the Featherweight, Lightweight, and Welterweight divisions. If the fight against Chandler takes place at 185, McGregor will join an exclusive list.