Chin-Tapping Chandler Won’t ‘Do As He’s Told’

UFC heavily marketed TUF 31 with an early clip of Conor McGregor telling fellow head coach Michael Chandler “You’ll do what you’re told” during their first interaction at APEX in Las Vegas, following some light banter about their upcoming fight later this year.

But like most things on reality television, producers will employ careful editing techniques to craft a specific version of events, so what gets recorded may not alway be what viewers see, and the promotion will no doubt work overtime to protect its golden goose.

“That first scene man that obviously, that made the promo where he said, ‘You’ll do what you’re told’ … it’s time to I guess express that now that it’s out and everybody just watched it, I don’t quite know if I didn’t have a comeback,” Chandler said on YouTube (transcribed by MMA News). “The way they cut it, it was just me like this, you know, tapping on my chin. You’re seeing my first reaction and this won’t be the first time I think that’s definitely not how it happened in real life. That’s how they cut it. But this is what we’ve signed up for and this is a beautiful thing.”

Chandler and McGregor are charged with coaching squads of lightweight and bantamweight contestants, an eclectic mix of established veterans and hungry up-and-comers. Episode 1 ended in favor of Team Chandler when Roosevelt Roberts slept Nate Jennerman (get our full results and recap here).

No word yet on when Chandler and McGregor will settle their differences inside the cage. “Notorious” still needs to complete six months of clean drug testing for USADA before getting cleared to return and the promotion has yet to make that process official.