Conor McGregor is still dangling the carrot of his UFC comeback in front of fans and his poor perpetual bridesmaid, Michael Chandler. “IRON MIKE CHANDLER. Unfinished Business,” ‘The Notorious’ tweeted earlier this week. This was shortly followed by the Irishman claiming that “I’ll only come back to a stadium,” apparently inspired by WrestleMania 41 being a roaring success at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas last weekend.
Of course, almost no one, maybe including Chandler, is buying it. “Unfinished Business Loading,” the former Bellator champion tweeted in response, clearly skeptical of his claims after being jostled around for nearly two years by ‘Mystic Mac’. While Chandler seemed pretty chill and humorous about the Dubliner’s X posts, that was not the case for verbose UFC analyst and former superstar, Chael Sonnen, who is positively infuriated at McGregor.
“It’s intriguing to me in the statement because of the insincerity, if not flat dishonesty, of the statement. I will come back, I have unfinished business with Michael Chandler. Well, let me stop you right there. You and Chandler don’t have any business. I mean, if we’re to be real fair, you did a season of The Ultimate Fighter [whose] ratings were so bad, they had to bring in Daniel Cormier to try to revive the whole story,” ‘Uncle Chael’ told fans on his official YouTube channel.
Indeed, Chandler and McGregor appeared as rival head coaches on season 31 of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ in 2023, which drew an average of 294k viewers in its first episode, way down from the average 600k+ viewers for season 22, which also featured the Irishman.
“You and Chandler have never done business together. You did real bad business the one time you did business. So to make believe you have unfinished business that would be record-setting, though there has never been a main event in UFC history that would have more losses from both sides going into it,” Sonnen added.
“But you would be setting records in very strange directions with the idea that you’re going to do that in front of the largest audience ever. And I just don’t believe it. I don’t believe if we booked that size of a venue, that that would get a guy to come to the table, the same guy who pulled out of a press conference in his hometown because of a discolored pinky toe, which may or may not have been broken, and may nor may or may not have even belonged to him,” the former title contender declared.
UFC 264, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA 10/7/2021 Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor Conor McGregor before the fight Conor McGregor before the fight 10/7/2021 PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUKxIRLxFRAxNZL Copyright: x INPHO/Tom Hogan x UFC264_516_Hoganphotos
McGregor and Chandler, of course, were scheduled to face each other at UFC 303 last June. But the Irishman pulled out two weeks from the fight, citing a broken toe. A claim that Sonnen is clearly skeptical about. But that doesn’t mean the Irishman isn’t serious about wanting to fight Chandler this time around. We know, we know, just hear us out.
Why Conor McGregor may have no choice but to fight Michael Chandler this year?
Conor McGregor agreeing to fight Michael Chandler would be a godsend for ‘Iron’. After all, the American is on a three-fight losing streak and dangerously close to gatekeeper territory. And you know what, ‘Mystic Mac’ may be serious this time around. This might seem a bit surprising since the Irishman has announced a run for President of Ireland in this year’s elections.
But, according to experts, the Irishman is unlikely to get on the ballot because of the procedural issues involved, which even McGregor has admitted are obstacles standing in the way of him. “There are stipulations. You have to get four county councils, which are controlled by the government parties, or you have to get 20 nominations of the Oireachtas, which are all mostly party affiliates. Can’t just run for president,” McGregor told Tucker Carlson in a recent interview.
Moreover, the Irishman hasn’t had any success in the boxing world either. He has long wanted to box Manny Pacquiao, but since that clearly isn’t happening, there were talks of him fighting Logan Paul this summer. But even that fight fell through, which means the Irishman may have no choice but to fight Chandler if he wants to stay relevant and in the headlines, which we know he likes to do. What do you think about Chael Sonnen excoriating Conor McGregor?
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