Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya believes Conor McGregor should finally give Michael Chandler the fight he has been waiting years to get.
McGregor returned to the Octagon at UFC 329 for the first time since suffering a broken leg against Dustin Poirier in July 2021. However, the highly anticipated comeback ended in disappointment when the former two-division champion injured his leg just 69 seconds into his main event clash with Max Holloway and was forced to withdraw.
While McGregor has already expressed his desire to recover and complete the final fight on his UFC contract, Israel Adesanya believes there is only one matchup that makes sense when the Irish star returns.
Speaking on the Precision podcast with former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, Adesanya said Chandler deserves the opportunity after years of waiting for the fight.
“I did see [McGregor] when he was sitting down and he looked distraught,” Adesanya said. “He looked like a lot of weight was on him. He kind of picked at his glove for a second, so I thought, ‘Is he going to retire?’ I don’t think so, but a fight with Max again after a five-year layoff, you’re fighting at the top of the heap. You’re fighting one of the best to do it. That’s a hard fight to come back against.
“I say, if he does decide to come back later on, Chandler would be the only fight that makes sense.”
Michael Chandler has pursued a fight with McGregor since joining the UFC in 2021. The former Bellator lightweight champion quickly emerged as a top contender and repeatedly called for a showdown with the sport’s biggest star.
Their rivalry intensified when they served as opposing coaches on Season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter. The UFC later booked the fight to headline UFC 303 in June 2024, but McGregor withdrew after suffering a toe injury during training camp.
The cancellation left Chandler sidelined for nearly two years as he waited for the lucrative matchup.
Because of that, Israel Adesanya believes McGregor owes Chandler the fight.
“He kind of owes Chandler that fight,” Adesanya said. “He honeyd*cked him for, like, two or three years while Chandler was waiting for the big money fight. So now, after The Ultimate Fighter, after all those times, it would be good for them to kind of settle the score because they even have a little bit of—not beef—but they’ve got some heat there. That would be the fight I think he should come back to.”
Although McGregor’s star power gives him plenty of options whenever he returns, Adesanya believes Chandler remains the most logical opponent.
The former middleweight champion pointed to McGregor’s lengthy absence from competition and recent injury struggles as reasons why the matchup works for both fighters.
“I think Chandler would be the only fight to make right now,” Adesanya said. “It’s a favorable matchup and also it’s a winnable matchup for Chandler as well, fighting a guy like Conor coming off a long layoff and not really getting fulfilled in this fight.”
Despite the disappointing ending to UFC 329, Israel Adesanya does not believe McGregor will walk away from the sport without one final appearance.
The Nigerian-born star argued that someone with McGregor’s legacy would not want his UFC career to end on such an anticlimactic note.
“Knowing a guy like Conor, from what we’ve seen, he wouldn’t want to go out like that,” Adesanya said. “I don’t think he’d want to go out like that. I think he’d want to have even just one more before he calls it a career, because to retire off that is just so anticlimactic for a guy who’s done so much in the game and for the game and then that be your last show.
“Nah. One more fight, Chandler. Chandler should still fight in the meantime if he has other options before McGregor comes back, then go for it. But yeah, Chandler is owed that fight, so that should be Conor’s next fight and, if possible, his last fight. Then he can do anything he wants.”
McGregor currently has one fight remaining on his UFC contract, but there is no timeline for his return as he recovers from the injury suffered against Holloway. Whether the UFC finally books the long-awaited showdown remains to be seen, but Israel Adesanya has made it clear who he believes should be standing across the cage when McGregor fights again.
