Michael Chandler Assured Fight With Conor McGregor Will Happen, Teases Future WWE Crossover
UFC fans are still waiting impatiently for a fight between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler. It was supposed to happen last year. It didn't. And now, we're left wondering if it's ever going to happen at all.
"Eventually," UFC President Dana White said on ESPN's Pat McAfee Show last month. "Hopefully, this year. There is no date. I'm hoping for the fall. Hopefully, we get it done in the fall."
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But all this wishy-washiness doesn't exactly instill confidence in the fans. And many folks in the UFC community — including the hosts of the popular MMA on Point podcast — think Chandler might be wasting his time waiting for a chance to fight McGregor.
In a conversation with OutKick on Friday, Chandler had a message for those doubters.
"Number one, I'd say worry about yourself," Chandler said, referencing those who say he's wasting his time. "Number two, I have enough indications to know I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing."
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Two weeks ago at WWE's Monday Night Raw, Chandler grabbed the mic and took the opportunity to call out McGregor.
"There’s a man from Ireland that’s been making me wait for way too long, and I still got one dude on my mind: Conor Mcgregor," he said, as the crowd roared. "Get your candy ass back in the Octagon. We’ve got some unfinished business, boys. God bless, see you at the top."
Chandler assured us the fight is happening — "it's just not announced yet."
"Obviously, you know, it's not set in stone, but no fight is ever set in stone until the contract is signed," Chandler explained. "And quite frankly, nothing is set in stone until you step inside the Octagon, that Octagon door closes, and then Bruce Buffer announces your name. So, you know, the UFC has never wavered. They've never gone a different direction, never offered me another opponent."
Michael Chandler Is Staying Busy While He Waits
McGregor, 35, has not fought since July 2021, when he suffered a broken leg in his second-straight loss to Dustin Poirier. Chandler also fought Poirier last time out, losing by submission in November 2022.
Chandler calls the break from the Octagon "a nice year of healing."
"Luckily, I am a businessman, a father, a husband, a guy who's pretty busy outside of just fighting," Chandler told OutKick. "I have multiple streams of income. I don't have to just rely on my fight purse. So I've been able to take a year off and pour into other businesses, other opportunities, other entrepreneurial things that I'm doing."
Michael and his wife Brie have two sons, whom they adopted in 2017 and 2022. In addition to spending time with his family, Chandler has his hands in various other business ventures, including real estate, nutrition, an online fitness app, and Training Camp (an MMA gym in Nashville). He's also part owner of Hiatus Tequila.
"I've just always looked at it like the UFC or fighting gives me a platform, and I'm able to take that platform and monetize it in different ways," he said.
"I think I'm bastardizing the blessings that I have and the abilities that I have by just being a guy who punches people in the face. I've been given more gifts than that. So I'm going to turn it all into a huge impact."
Chandler turns 38 next month, and that's not young in the world of UFC fighters.
So What's Next For Michael Chandler?
Obviously, the fight with McGregor is still on the table.
But I asked Mike if the promo he cut on Raw was any indication we might see a WWE crossover sometime in the future. He smiled.
"I can tell you that the response was very positive at WWE when it comes to the brass, Triple H and some of the head people coming up and saying, 'Hey, that was unexpected. We didn't know you could do that. And we got a huge response out of it,'" he said.
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In September, WWE and UFC merged, creating the "TKO Holdings Group." And Chandler said being under the same umbrella has created new opportunities for wrestlers and MMA fighters alike.
"I had a blast walking around in the back — meeting a bunch of the wrestlers, a bunch of the wrestlers were fans of me," he said. "You know, we're all kind of cut from the same cloth with hand-to-hand combat, where one is scripted, one is not. So it was a lot of fun, and I would be open to it. For sure."
So that should give Mike Chandler fans something to look forward to. After all, who knows if Conor McGregor will ever get his "candy ass back in the Octagon"?