Michael Chandler has provided further details on his coaching role within TUF and revealed, “You never quite knew which Conor you would get”.
Michael Chandler on The ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor
Chandler continues to ride a wave of mixed emotions when it comes to whether he will or won’t be facing Conor McGregor next.
‘Iron’ Mike hasn’t been the only one to show mixed emotions and has recently spoken about how McGregor’s personality would change on a daily basis.
Speaking on DC & RC, Chandler shared his experience on his interactions with McGregor “The great thing about Conor, and I will give him huge props here. He would go three, four days of trying to be my friend. Trying to be buddy-buddy, trying to be like ‘Hey, man, it’s all business. I’m the biggest guy in the sport. You’re on my show, but you’re a nice guy.’ Then all of a sudden he would flip the script.”
“Then one day he would go completely nuts on me, or he would go hit a little bit deep, a little deeper of a cut to really try and get under my skin. You never quite knew which Conor you would get. Monday, you might get one. Tuesday, you might get a different one. Wednesday might be a completely different guy.”
Quotes to be credited to Middle Easy.
Where is Conor McGregor Mentally?
Fans will not have been even remotely surprised by Chandler’s comments. McGregor has been showing multiple sides to his personality of late, between his cryptic voice notes to his deleted tweets. McGregor has been enjoying the spoils of his well-earned success, that is of no secret to anybody. With Conor still not yet in the UDADA testing pool, it raises questions as to whether we will see him back in the octagon any time soon.
McGregor has agreed to face Chandler but it remains to be seen whether this will actually come to fruition. Conor has also suggested numerous of different potential opponents, at different weights, in different sports so it is difficult to get any real perspective of where his head is at.
The ‘Notorious’ was once committed to this sport in it’s entirety and saw a rise like no other. Pulling new audiences from across the world and taking mixed martial arts as a whole to an all time high. However, with his successes, came new opportunities. With a whiskey brand, his own Irish stout and many other business adventures occupying his time, it has been a long time since we have seen McGregor ‘All in’ on his MMA career and may be something that we never actually get to see again.
Will We See McGregor vs Chandler at All?
Chandler has been insistent that his fight with McGregor will proceed as planned but is yet to receive a date or venue to satisfy his concerns. However, Dana White did confirm recently that McGregor would be facing Chandler next and that Conor’s callouts of Justin Gaethje, Nate Diaz and… KSI were just a by-product of Conor being Conor.
To further cement Chandler was next, McGregor told talkSPORT that Chandler would be next and alluded to the fact that Gaethje and Diaz would follow. “December, Chandler, I have to, I have to. I was only playing with him. Chandler next, December and then Gaethje, BMF. Then we’ll do the Nate trilogy.”
The above quote was transcribed by and should be credited to combatsportsuk.co.uk
December? Really?
Conor’s reveal, that he would be returning to face Michael Chandler in December certainly raised some eyebrows. There has been no confirmation from USADA that McGregor had returned to the testing pool. USADA policies state that to be able to compete in mixed martial arts, an athlete must be in the testing pool for a minimum of 6 months prior to any scheduled bout.
Henry Cejudo, was recently in the same position and returned to the pool, completing his six months and then returning to action. There is a chance however that McGregor could still return in December. The UFC have made certain compromises in the past with regards to USADA with the returns of certain ‘superstars’ like Brock Lesnar so it isn’t so far fetched to believe that they would do the same for the biggest name in the sport.
It does raise a question though as to whether McGregor is being shown some favouritism by the UFC and it is concerning that compromises can be made when talking about performance enhancing drugs (PEDS).
Why Is Conor Not in the Testing Pool?
Many have speculated that Conor may have been using steroids to recover from his horrific leg break against Dustin Poirier last year. This is not uncommon and is prescribed to patients to help aid their rehabilitation. If Conor is still using steroids at this time and is to fight in December, it will be interesting to see exactly what restrictions are imposed to allow him to return.
It is a murky situation which remains unclear to the public as to how it will be resolved. No doubt if the bout is to be agreed for December, there will likely be an announcement within the next month or so and hopefully some of these questions will then be answered. For now, what happens next remains to be seen.
Do you think Conor McGregor Vs Michael Chandler happens next? Should Conor have to do 6 months of testing like everyone else? Do you think we see him fight this year? Has Chandler waited long enough, is it time to move on? Let us know in the comments.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
