Could Michael Chandler beat former UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor?
The current Bellator MMA star is coming off a hot victory over Benson Henderson and while his next move hasn’t been confirmed, Michael Chandler will be testing the free market. Of course, the UFC is indeed on the former Bellator World Lightweight Champion’s mind and the 34-year-old has revealed who he’s looking to forward to fighting if he does make the jump to the UFC:
“I’m excited about the possibilities,” Chandler said. “We know all my different possibilities. Fighting in the UFC and fighting [Justin] Gaethje and I know I could be the guy that could go out there and beat Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. Fighting a Conor [McGregor], fighting these guys.
Earlier this year, Conor McGregor announced his retirement from the sport altogether, so the chances of Chandler fighting the former two-division champion is pretty slim at this point. Chandler has respect for what McGregor has done for the sport overall (Transcript courtesy of MMA Junkie):
“The thing about Conor McGregor is I’ve always loved what he has done with the sport,” Chandler said after the event. “I’ve never once hated on him. In the very beginning, I did say he’s not as good as he thinks he is, but he’s better than we think he is, and he continued to prove that. I still don’t think he’s as good as he thinks he is, but that’s a testament to his self-belief. If all of us had a little bit more self-belief, like Conor McGregor, life would be a little bit different and we’d look at life through a different lens.”
However, the Bellator MMA fighter believes he has the tools to beat “Notorious” and details how he would take out McGregor in less than two rounds:
“As far as that fight goes, I finish Conor in under two, in my opinion,” he said. “It’d be similar to, shades of (Nate) Diaz I. Wear him down, hit him with hard shots – hard, hard shots. Take every single one of his shots. He’s got that sneaky and strong and thick and hard left hand that he throws, and it’s straight. You avoid that, wear him down a little bit, make him see Jesus. Just put him out.”