UFC lightweight Michael Chandler reacted to Conor McGregor’s knee injury that he suffered in the main event of UFC 329.
McGregor hurt his knee and lost via first-round TKO to Max Holloway just 69 seconds into the UFC 329 main event this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a truly anticlimactic ending to what was otherwise an amazing UFC event.
Following the fight, there has been some speculation that McGregor may have entered the Octagon with a preexisting injury. But as far as Chandler — a longtime rival of McGregor — goes, that’s not the case, as that’s just not the kind of fighter that McGregor is.
Michael Chandler Shares Reaction to Conor McGregor’s Injury
Taking to his social media, Chandler posted a video where he spoke about McGregor’s injury. In Chandler’s opinion, McGregor is unlikely to have been injured heading into the fight, as he doesn’t believe it’s in his nature to rip the fans off by entering the fight with a preexisting injury.
“I would be absolutely surprised, like the most surprised on the planet, if Conor just showed up for a paycheck, limped in there and said ‘I don’t care I’ll give you guys one minute, shave my head into a mohawk, show up, do the intros and then just bow out a minute later,’” Chandler said (via Bloody Elbow).
“You can say what you want about Conor but one thing he is not, is a quitter, one thing he is not, is a bamboozler. The body is unpredictable and every fight is unpredictable and if you look at Conor, (he always comes out with a kick). I believe he wants to fight me, I believe he tried to fight me, I believe that’s how the negotiations went, other plans were made but the honor and the integrity of wanting to stick to and be a man of his word since he pulled out of that fight back in 2024. I know everyone is disappointed but keep on watching, this ain’t the last you’re gonna see of Conor McGregor and I’m excited to see how it plays out.”
Could Michael Chandler Fight Conor McGregor?
As Chandler mentioned in the video, McGregor is still a fight that he wants to have, given that the two were previously coaches opposite one another on “The Ultimate Fighter” and were scheduled to fight at UFC 303 in June 2024 before McGregor pulled out with a broken toe.
McGregor only has one fight left on his current UFC contract, and he intends to honor it. Could that last UFC bout be against Chandler in a fight that has been several years in the making? It’s certainly possible.
Ultimately, we’ll see how long it takes for McGregor to get back into the Octagon, but it does feel like he wants to compete at least one last time inside the Octagon, and a fight against Chandler is one of the few that makes complete sense right now given where both men are at in their respective UFC careers.
Michael Chandler Reacts to Conor McGregor’s Injury at UFC 329