Michael Chandler Could Be Moving On From Conor McGregor Fight
Michael Chandler seems to have options.
With his scheduled fight against Conor McGregor falling off the recent UFC 303 fight card and UFC CEO Dana White unwilling to talk about when McGregor could return to action until he hears that the former two-division UFC champ is healed, Chandler recently said the UFC had offered him another fight. According to Chandler, that matchup is against UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
"I've been offered in October – but if little pinky toe is ready by Sept, let's do sphere. Biggest sporting event in history of sports!!!! #ufc306," Chandler wrote.
The date for the Sphere card in Las Vegas, UFC 306, is September 14. The likely October date that Chandler referenced in his post is UFC 308, which is scheduled to take place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on October 26.
Chandler is currently the No. 6 ranked fighter in the official UFC lightweight rankings. He is 1-3 dating back to May 2021. Chandler's losses during that run have been to Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title, Justin Gaethje, and Dustin Poirier. Chandler's one victory came against Tony Ferguson in May 2022. His most recent outing was the submission loss to Poirier in November 2022.
The McGregor vs. Chandler fight fell off the UFC 303 card on June 13 when the UFC announced that an injury prevented McGregor from competing on the fight card. That injury was later confirmed as a broken toe.
Makhachev does not seem to trust Chandler making it to fight night if he agrees to face Chandler. The 155-pound champ wrote, referring to McGregor, "You are unreliable dude, one tweet from your master, and you'll run away. Champ needs real opponent."
Makhachev won the vacant UFC lightweight title with a submission victory over Charles Oliveira in October 2022. His first two title defenses came against then-UFC featherweight kingpin Alexander Volkanovski. He bested Volkanovski by unanimous decision in their first meeting, and then knocked him out in a rematch. Makhachev is coming off a June submission win over Dustin Poirier in defense of his belt.
Makhachev looked likely to face the No. 1 ranked Arman Tsarukyan in his next matchup, but Tsarukyan was recently issued a nine-month suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission for throwing a punch at a fan during his UFC 300 walkout.
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