White Wants McGregor Vs. Chandler: ‘Makes A Lot Of Sense Right Now’

Conor McGregor has been busy these past few months dressing up for expensive parties and playing mixologist on his yacht, but it’s only a matter of time before the former UFC double champ finds himself back inside of the Octagon.

Ever since McGregor suffered a serious leg injury in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021 fight fans have been discussing who “Notorious” will fight next. A fourth fight against Poirier made sense at the time, but all parties have seemed to move on from that. A trilogy bout with Nate Diaz is probably the most logical fight considering Nate’s time as a member of the UFC roster is running out, but that doesn’t seem to be picking up steam either.

McGregor, who is firing shots at any and all potential opponents, even called out current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman to a return title fight. Usman willingly accepted for a massive payday, but UFC brass is unlikely to touch this matchup with a 10-foot stick. There has also been talks of a potential clash between McGregor and UFC superstar Jorge Masvidal as the two fighters have mixed it up on social media over the past few weeks. It seems like a plausible matchup as well, but UFC president Dana White is looking the other direction on that one as well.

Instead, White is counting on a lightweight clash between “Notorious” and Michael Chandler, who has done everything in his power to lock up a massive fight with the Irishman.

“I don’t know, I really like Chandler vs. Conor after Chandler’s last fight,” White told TMZ. “There’s plenty of fights to make, I don’t know if that’s the one, but we’ll see what the landscape looks like when Conor comes back.”

Chandler, who made his UFC debut in early 2021, has turned in one the most exciting four-fight stretches the promotion has ever seen. The former Bellator MMA champion is just 2-2 in those bouts, but they’ve been absolute dog fights against some of the best fighters in the division. Chandler’s most memorable performances came in a Fight of the Year loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 268 before turning things around at UFC 274 this past May to finish Tony Ferguson with one of the greatest knockouts of all time (see it HERE).

“I’m just saying after his last interview, his last fight, Conor’s ranked No. 8, he’s ranked No. 5, it makes a lot of sense right now,” White added.

Of course, McGregor needs to fully heal before he decides to return to fighting. The former UFC double champ was cleared to spar this past April and is slowly getting back to full strength. McGregor has done some heavy lifting over the past year and has put on some serious muscle so he better be ready to cut down to 155 pounds for some of the biggest matchups at his disposal.

“I think he’s getting better, he’s starting to ramp up his training some more and I’m hoping at the end of this year, early next year,” White said.

What say you, Maniacs? Does McGregor vs. Chandler make the most sense?

Sound off!