Did Arman Tsarukyan just spill the beans on Conor McGregor being out of his planned TUF coaches fight with Michael Chandler?
It’s hard to say, but Tsarukyan certainly seems to think that the fight between McGregor and Chandler isn’t going to happen, despite them coaching opposite each other on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter.
What’s going on with Conor McGregor?
The plan going into TUF 31 certainly was for McGregor and Chandler to throw down later this year. But it seems that McGregor hasn’t even re-entered the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency testing protocols for UFC fighters. As of Monday, June 19, McGregor had not yet been tested by USADA in 2023.
The program requires he be in the testing pool and providing clean results for at least six months prior to fighting again. For the Chandler bout to happen in 2023, McGregor may already have run out of time.
The UFC’s last big event of 2023 is a pay-per-view on Dec. 16 in Las Vegas. If McGregor is not yet in the testing pool, he will not make the six month cutoff for that date.
McGregor has also been the subject of recent controversy with a woman claiming that he “violently raped” her at Game 4 of the Miami Heat vs. Denver Nuggets NBA Finals in Miami. That is the same game that McGregor took to the court at half-time in a skit that went wrong, resulting in the Miami Heat’s mascot going to the hospital for treatment.
All of this could add up being too much at once on McGregor’s plate for him to also focus on training for a fight with Chandler, who is an extremely dangerous opponent.
What Arman Tsarukyan had to say about Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler
Tsarukyan alluded to as much, as he took aim at Chandler for his next opponent following his win over Joaquim Silva at UFC Vegas 75 over the weekend in Las Vegas.
While everyone else pointed to Beneil Dariush as a logical next opponent for him, Tsarukyan agreed, but said that it sounded as if Dariush would not be ready to fight in the same timeframe as him. Tsarukyan would like to fight on the UFC 294 fight card on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi. Dariush is coming off of a difficult loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 289, where took a lot of punishment.
Tsarukyan instead shifted his focus to Chandler, saying that is the fight he wants.
“I think fight with Dariush, it makes sense. But if you want to ask me, for sure, I want a fight with Michael Chandler,” said Tsarukyan at the UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference.
“Because it looks like his fight with Conor McGregor is over, you know. And (Chandler has) got to fight with someone. And I am here. I have a good win streak and let’s do it. Let’s do this fight, because I’m the youngest guy in Top 15. He’s the older one.”
Diving a little further into the situation, Tsarukyan explained why he said that he believes McGregor is not going to fight Chandler.
“Because I saw what McGregor is doing. He’s relaxing on his yacht, drink… he goes to the beach, smoke weed… He’s not gonna fight, you know.”
Even UFC president Dana White cast a cloud over McGregor’s return
Of course, Tsarukyan could simply be trying to manifest a fight with Chandler by stirring the pot with McGregor, who is already great at casting doubt on his own ambitions. But he’s not the only one who has made comments that put McGregor’s return on shaky ground.
UFC president Dana White has also ushered in some clouds when it comes to McGregor’s return.
“The one thing you guys need to understand is this kid has so much money. It’s like Khabib now. These guys have got sh*tloads of money. And it’s hard to real these guys back in and get them fired up to get in and fight,” White said following UFC Vegas 74 when asked about McGregor not being scheduled to fight Chandler yet.
His comment was only amplified when he was questioned about whether or not he is concerned that the UFC’s biggest star might not ever set foot in the cage again.
“I never get concerned. We have a massive roster of people that want to come in and people that are ready to fight. And people that want to be Conor McGregor and want to be at that level,” he said.
“For the last 20 years, everybody said, ‘Oh my God, what are you gonna do when Chuck Liddell retires? You guys are f**ked. Oh my God, GSP, Anderson Silve, this and that.’ This is a professional sport. People come in here. They achieve great things and they retire. You can never worry about that type of stuff. It’s part of my job and my team’s job to find new talent and mold them and take them to that new level.”
Tsarukyan is definitely one of those guys that is ready to come in and fight. He wants to get back into a fight with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, and he’s willing to step on McGregor’s shoes to get there.
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Arman Tsarukyan doubts Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler happens
