Consistently reminded of him, Chandler desires McGregor in Sphere

LAS VEGAS – His Worldwide Struggle Week journey to “Sin Metropolis” turned out to be for pleasure fairly than a enterprise journey, however Michael Chandler stated he’s discovered to be OK with that.

Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) was presupposed to combat Conor McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) within the UFC 303 foremost occasion at T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas, a combat that has been constructing for 18 months. However McGregor pulled out of the combat with a damaged toe.

McGregor was set to return from a three-year layoff after struggling a damaged leg in July 2021. It was the primary time he has pulled out of a UFC combat, and he’s been raked over the coals by critics for pulling out after he’s been extremely important of previous opponents or rivals for doing the identical.

The combat would have been the largest of Chandler’s profession, and virtually actually the largest payday.

“I can actually say it actually hasn’t been very arduous,” Chandler stated of the fixed delays and hypothesis about once they’d combat, adopted by McGregor’s final pullout. “It’s Worldwide Struggle Week, and I’ve taken footage and shaken the fingers and met over a thousand followers this weekend, and each single certainly one of them speaking in regards to the flights that they took, the place they got here from, the tickets that they purchased – all of them got here right here to observe me combat Connor.

“So clearly, I’m continually reminded of it. However as an athlete, you get actually good at compartmentalizing it, and I don’t assume it has affected me as a lot as most individuals would assume it has. It’s simply the best way the world goes. That is the best way life is. You get knocked down, you get let down, and the true measure of a person is how he stands underneath circumstances like this.”

McGregor has stated he’d wish to combat in August or September, and the UFC has a present deliberate for September at The Sphere.

Chandler likes that concept, too, it appears.

“Sphere could be nice,” he stated. “It’s 10 weeks away. I’m not a health care provider, however I do know a pinky toe doesn’t take too lengthy to heal. That might be huge. It sounds to me prefer it’s going to be a one-and-done kind of occasion.

“Dana has touted it as the largest occasion in UFC historical past, and it might by no means be accomplished (once more), and if you wish to do the numbers that they need to do, it appears as if this combat between myself and Conor would match the invoice. I’m not the one to make these selections, however the UFC is aware of I all the time have my work boots on and I’m able to go tomorrow in the event that they need to go.”

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