The much-anticipated fight between Irishman Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler is becoming a no-show, as no new date has been set.
Michael Chandler has been set on facing the Irishman since June, but the fighter has had to pull back multiple times due to injuries. The wait has now become two years, with no new dates in sight. After sustaining another injury before the rescheduled fight, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that the Irishman will not compete until next year.
Due to these multiple cancellations, many, including UFC veteran Matt Brown, are beginning to doubt if the fight will ever come to fruition. The retired welterweight fighter believes “The Notorious” will not step foot in the cage, and Chandler may be wasting his time waiting.
He’s gone,” Brown said of McGregor on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I’ve said it for a long time now. How many years have I been saying it? He’s done. I don’t discount that there’s a chance that he comes back, but the chances of him coming back are way lower than the chances of him not fighting again. He’s at, like, a 20-percent chance of coming back, I think.
“He’s doing great staying in the news, doing great keeping his name out there. We’d all love to see him fight still. I’d love to see him fight Chandler. Whoever I’d love to see Conor fight — if he’s training properly, staying off the various substances or whatever it is. Come in the real Conor. Live your life all want, when you’re 45 and you’re retired and you’re totally out. Enjoy it then, but for now let’s see all the fights. Let’s see them. I want to see you fight.”
Despite McGregor’s willingness to step into the cage, it seems the fighter keeps making excuses not to. Brown believes Chandler should make the best of his time while still in his prime rather than waiting for one spotlight fight with McGregor.
“In my view, you only live once and this is a short window of time in your life that you get to compete at the highest level,” Brown said of Chandler’s situation. “I think he’s going to look back when he’s 50, 60 years old and be like, ‘I missed out on a couple of years there just waiting for a payday.’ And I don’t think he’s hurting for money anyways [but], ‘I waited for this payday, and I could have been out there putting myself on the line.
“I think Michael Chandler’s a competitor. I think he wants to be out there putting it on the line. Also, I think he’s going to end up regretting this someday.”
One of Michael Chandler’s fears may be booking a fight and then missing a matchup with McGregor. However, the likelihood of this happening is rather slim.
I’ve said it a million times. Say he fought four times, and those two years, he went 2-2 — Conor still fights him,” Brown said. “It’s not like Chandler’s an up-and-comer that’s going to be on Fight Nights or the prelims or something. He would have had to lose all of his fights for Conor to say, ‘I’m not fighting you.’ Maybe even then, Conor might fight him. Conor’s going to need a tune-up fight coming back. He might see that as a tune-up fight. I don’t think he would have lost anything by fighting however many times.
“I get it why he’s waiting, I guess. Maybe they’re just stringing him along. We don’t know what he’s hearing. We don’t know the voices in his ear, what they’re telling him. Hindsight’s always 20/20, right? It’s easy for us to look back and say, ‘You should have fought all this time,’ but it’s like, OK. We know in hindsight you should have fought, but at what point do you put your foot down and say, ‘OK, I’m fighting again.’”
Despite contrary opinions, the fighter seems intent on leaving his schedule clear. Brown believes this idea is more for financial gain than professional gain.
“It’s clear the wait is for a payday,” Brown said. “It’s not a legacy thing. It’s not for competitive nature. I think Michael Chandler’s probably going to look back on it and say, ‘I should have jumped in there.’ Maybe he won’t. I can’t read his mind, I don’t know what’s going on in his life, but I’m guessing he’s probably solid on money. It doesn’t really add up to me why you’d want to do that.”
The match date is still uncertain, and McGregor remains unseen. However, fans and UFC promotion have assured Michael Chandler that he will get his day in the octagon when McGregor returns next year.
