Conor McGregor tells Michael Chandler fight will be at middleweight

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Conor McGregor tells Michael Chandler fight will be at middleweight

As the newest season of The Ultimate Fighter prepares for launch, Conor McGregor declared that his fight with Michael Chandler will be at 185 pounds.

In a TUF excerpt posted to ESPN’s MMA channel on YouTube, the clip shows the initial meeting of McGregor and Chandler for TUF. McGregor enters the room in a dark suit, arms swinging as they always do in his trademark swagger.

Conor McGregor drops 185-pound bomb on Michael Chandler

The meeting is amicable enough, but quickly falls prey to McGregor’s smooth trash talk, which always captures any conversation.

“I’m actually really looking forward to a proper fight,” McGregor said, as he and Chandler puffed their chests at each other in a sort of verbal feeling out period.

After asking for Chandler’s fight predication, McGregor asks, “Have I told you what weight it’s gonna be? 185.”

“You wanna do 185, I’ll do 185,” Chandler bites, not skipping a beat.

“You’ll do what you’re told,” McGregor snaps back. “This is my game. This my game forever.”

Chandler, a former Bellator lightweight champion, hasn’t fought above a 160-pound catchweight since very early on in his career. Moving up to 185 pounds would be a rather significant move for him.

McGregor, who hasn’t fought since suffering a devastating leg injury in a loss to Dustin Poirier nearly two years ago, has ballooned in size during his rehab. He has often shown photos and videos of his enlarged physique on social media, and has frequently mentioned an eventual move to middleweight.

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But is now really that time? We’ll obviously learn a lot more in the coming months as The Ultimate Fighter season plays out and McGregor and Chandler settle the date, the weight, and other details for the post-TUF fight.

For now, however, we await McGregor’s return to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency testing pool for UFC fighters, which he has to be in and remain clean for six months before he can fight anyone. So we are left to live with his bluster and wonder when the return will come.

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Conor McGregor tells Michael Chandler they are fighting at 185 pounds

(Courtesy of ESPN MMA)
Conor McGregor tells Michael Chandler fight will be at middleweight