UFC: Michael Chandler tells Conor McGregor: “I’m ready to leave you behind”

Michael Chandler is keen to fight Conor McGregor and finally put their long-standing rivalry in the UFC behind them.

Chandler and McGregor have been linked to a UFC fight for several years, even serving as opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter in the lead-up to their Octagon clash. However, when they were finally booked to fight at UFC 303 in June, McGregor had to be taken off the list due to a toe injury and the status of the fight was once again uncertain.

After years of waiting for McGregor to recover and return to the Octagon, Chandler now seems eager to start the next chapter of his career.

At Beat the Heat, he expressed his desire to fight McGregor as soon as possible and put the rivalry behind him.

“I’m never going to play the victim,” Chandler said. “I have a wife and two kids, I have businesses, I have all that stuff. It’s more like, with all due respect, I’m ready to leave you behind. I’m ready to lay you flat on your back in the middle of an Octagon, wherever that may be — hopefully Las Vegas — and I can walk out of that Octagon and never have to think about you again.”

Conor McGregor, 36, has not fought since his TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in 2021, in which he suffered a serious broken leg. It was his second consecutive loss to Poirier following a KO loss in January of that year.

In his next fight in 2020, the former two-division champion stopped Donald Cerrone in the first round. This was preceded by a failed title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov, a fight he lost by submission.

Despite his long absence, McGregor remains the biggest star in MMA history – and offers the biggest payday to those who fight him.

That explains why Chandler was willing to wait so long for the fight. The former Bellator lightweight champion hasn’t fought since being stopped by Poirier in 2022, which followed a knockout win over Tony Ferguson that same year.