Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler: Chael Sonnen Investigates Reason Behind the Delay

‘The Bad Guy’ has donned the investigator’s hat to unravel the mysteries surrounding Conor McGregor’s return. UFC head honcho, Dana White’s announcement of the UFC Saudi Arabia card on June 22, indicated that Conor McGregor’s octagon return might go beyond the promised date of June 29. Citing UFC’s lethargy towards coming up with a concrete plan for his return, McGregor has already expressed his frustration previously. And now, hopping on the mystery ship, UFC legend Chael Sonnen dived deep into the reasons behind McGregor’s UFC return in his latest YouTube video.

McGregor’s scheduled rival, Michael Chandler, had been accepting all his conditions related to the fight. He even agreed to ‘The Notorious’s’ demand to fight at middleweight. Sonnen revealed that Chandler was currently in great shape and opined that he could easily oblige to McGregor’s wish of fighting at 185 lbs. But he counted McGregor’s out-of-UFC projects to be the main reason behind the materialization of the fight.

Sonnen also laid stress on the fact that the Irishman had received offers for other fights “from an agent”. But he was bewildered by how the media never talked about this incident. He implied that the delay in McGregor’s return was also due to his two-way situation regarding his return fight. Sonnen said,

“[Conor McGregor] said he’s done with the weight class, it’s gonna be Michael Chandler, and off he goes to the next one. That’s either the case or it’s not.”

Sonnen expressed his confusion as to why neither of the two parties finalized the match. In an earlier statement, UFC stated that all McGregor was supposed to do was “to make a call.” However, as things stand currently, there is no confirmation about whether the call was being made. Thus, Sonnen could not document whether or when the coveted Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler fight will take place, or whether McGregor will drift off to fight someone else.

What options does Conor McGregor have except Michael Chandler?

‘The Bad Guy’ may be confused and still have a glimmer of hope about the materialization of the Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler fight. But the UFC is a place full of uncertainties. Previously, a lot of sources predicted that McGregor might make his UFC return at UFC 300.

Around this time, McGregor’s former rival, Nate Diaz, expressed his desire to fight him at UFC 300. Apart from this, the former ‘BMF’ of the UFC, Jorge Masvidal, had also revealed that he wanted to fight McGregor. Hence, the confusion related to the timeline and the rival of McGregor’s return fight probably won’t get cleared before any official announcement from the UFC authorities.