Daniel Cormier explains why Conor McGregor should want to fight Michael Chandler in UFC return
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Daniel Cormier thinks Michael Chandler is the perfect UFC comeback fight for Conor McGregor.
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is eyeing a 2023 return after breaking his leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. Chandler has called out McGregor on numerous occasions and even said he’s willing to fight him at welterweight.
Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) engaged in another barnburner when he was submitted by Poirier earlier this month at UFC 281. Chandler has stood toe to toe with two of the division’s heaviest hitters in Poirier and Justin Gaethje, which Cormier believes should excite McGregor.
“I think Michael Chandler’s last fight is why he might get the Conor McGregor fight,” Cormier said on his “DC & RC” ESPN show. “We saw him try and wrestle Dustin Poirier and even though he’s a wrestler, and he’s in phenomenal shape, he did get tired. In the third round he got tired and when he got tired, he made a mistake, and Dustin submitted him. But he also was willing to stand with a guy that hits hard, a guy that’s predominantly a striker, and he tested himself.
“I think because he fights in that way, it makes a guy like McGregor go, ‘Wait a minute. I want him, because I know this guy is gonna be there to fight. I know this guy is gonna be there to hit, and I also know that this guy will not be trying to wrestle me the entirety of this fight. He’ll fight me, he’ll stand with me, and he doesn’t have the background that I have in striking that will allow for me to have an opportunity to beat this dude.'”
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McGregor, who hasn’t been drug tested in 2022, will have to re-enter the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency program and complete six months of testing before he’s eligible to return. The 34-year-old star recently said that he’s looking to re-enter the pool in February, meaning the earliest he can compete is August.