Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler are determined to fight each other before the end of 2024.
The two men were supposed to square off at UFC 303 on June 29 – but ‘Notorious’ broke his pinky toe and withdrew from the eagerly anticipated event.
McGregor and Chandler have been booked to fight for 18 monthsCredit: Getty
McGregor is now fully fit, and he reacted angrily when Dana White recently insisted that his biggest star will not be returning to the Octagon in 2024.
“Ah Dana,” McGregor tweeted in response to a video of White’s comments, adding he had preparations in place to up his training in September.
“December is the date! Bring the calendar year home with a winning event!
“Come on now, what’s this? I am off to altitude next month to prepare.
“December,” he added. “Tell Dana and UFC we want December! We deserve December.”
A few days later, McGregor followed up that post with another suggesting he had convinced White to let him fight before the end of the year.
He wrote: “THE UFC LOVE AND WANT ME FOR DECEMBER! I AM READY.”
Chandler reacted by agreeing to McGregor’s proposed fight date.
He posted two hours later: “December it is.”
White still doesn’t expect McGregor to return before 2024 is over, but he eased his stance on the matter during an interview ahead of UFC 305.
White recently ruled out McGregor fighting in 2024
He became open to the idea after speaking with McGregorCredit: getty
“I don’t know what Chandler’s planning on doing. I know he’s kind of kicking around right now,” White told SportsNet.
“You know, you can imagine after I said that, Conor was blowing me up, going, ‘I’ll definitely fight this year.’
“When we get to a point where we’re setting a fight and I believe that a Conor McGregor fight is going to happen, I will announce it.
“As of right now, I believe that Conor will not fight this year. Conor’s saying he wants to fight, he wants to fight in December. We’ll see how it plays out.”
McGregor hasn’t fought since breaking his leg during a trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.
A return fight with Chandler has been on the table since February 2023 and the American continues to sit on the sidelines waiting for McGregor.
It appears he’s willing to wait a while longer, but Chandler is beginning to think about who he may face if his clash with ‘Notorious’ fails to materialise soon.
Poirier beat Chandler in November 2022 – and he hasn’t fought sinceCredit: Getty
Max Holloway, Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, Arman Tsarukyan, and Porier are on his five-man hitlist of alternate opponents for his next UFC fight.
Newly ranked lightweight contender Paddy Pimblett is the only man he specifically claimed to have no real interest in facing right now.
“I love Paddy. It was great to see him win that last one by finish, so he’s gonna be climbing the rankings,” Chandler said.
“He’s gonna be climbing, and maybe we see him in the top 10 in the next couple of fights. I’m not really interested in that fight. There’s a lot of people ranked higher.
“I’m number six, he’s number 15, so it doesn’t really make sense to me. He’s exciting. He’s gonna continue to put on fun fights and continue to climb, but right now it just doesn’t make sense for me.
“But who knows? If that’s a fight the fans want to see, if that’s a fight the UFC wants, it’s always fun to fight a guy who’s loved by fans.”