Michael Chandler would love to fight Conor McGregor with two belts put on the line.
A new lightweight champion will be crowned on May 15 at UFC 262 when Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler tangle to uncoil the new chief of the division. Naturally, Chandler envisions that man will be him. For his first title defense, he would love to defend against “The Notorious” Conor McGregor.
Chandler was nearly not included in this title picture to begin with. It could have been Dustin Poirier challenging for the title against Oliveira. This was a fight offered to the Lafayette, Louisiana native, but Poirier would then opt to accept the trilogy fight against McGregor instead.
Based on recent developments, that trilogy fight is now in question, but whether or not it does happen, Chandler is hoping to fight McGregor this year. Moreover, he doesn’t want to just defend his title; he also wants to capture the nonexistent McGregor Belt in a winner-take-all blockbuster.
“I love it, man,” Chandler told Helen Yee of McGregor’s idea to have his own belt created. “It’s Conor (McGregor) being Conor. Listen, you can say what you want about Conor but the dude’s the biggest combat sports icon on the planet. Not just right now but he has been for a while and he will be for the foreseeable future.
“I don’t think it is going to happen but I think it’s kind of a cool idea and I love the prospect of him beating Dustin Poirier and me putting my belt on the line, November or December, and him putting ‘The Conor McGregor belt’ on the line in November or December.“
If McGregor and Poirier really is off and Chandler emerges victorious next month, who knows, maybe this envisioned scenario will be pushed up to July instead. Chandler himself admits the odds of this champion vs. “champion” fight happening are slim, and they have become even slimmer in recent days.
Conor McGregor has issued an open challenge to any takers for the UFC 264 event in July. So even if it isn’t Poirier who the Irishman faces at the event, a new opponent may already be settled by the time Chandler would be available. Furthermore, Chandler’s first defense would likely be against Poirier himself instead of McGregor, seeing as how Poirier is ranked #1 in the division and just beat McGregor at UFC 257. Still, it’s fun to imagine a Chandler vs. McGregor title vs. title fight, even if the odds of it ever happening are about as real as the McGregor Belt’s existence.
What are your thoughts on Michael Chandler’s vision of a title vs. “title” fight against Conor McGregor later this year?
