Former two-weight UFC champion, Conor McGregor has hit out at incoming foe, Michael Chandler ahead of their expected June tangle during International Fight Week – claiming that lifting titles inside the Octagon is far greater the experience than lifting weights outside of it.
McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight and featherweight champion under the banner of the promotion, struck gold in both divisions back in 2015 and then 2016, turning in knockout victories over both Jose Aldo, and Eddie Alvarez, respectively.
As for Chandler, the former three-time Bellator MMA lightweight champion, failed in his sole bid so far to land lightweight gold since his 2021 debut in the Dana White-led promotion, competing for vacant spoils in the following year.
And despite a massive opening round against Brazilian favorite, Charles Oliveira, Chandler was stopped with a huge rallying KO in the early goings of the second round in the vacant lightweight title affair.
Conor McGregor mocks Michael Chandler’s Octagon tenure
Revealing on New Year’s Eve how he is set to fight Chandler on June 29. during International Fight Week in a much-anticipated return to the UFC, McGregor has since poked fun at Chandler’s stature – all while claiming that championship belts lofted inside the Octagon are worth more than weight plates lifted overhead.
“I can bench press ten (Michael) Chandlers,” Conor McGregor posted on his official X account tonight.
“Lifting belts > Lifting weights,” Conor McGregor posted.
Without a victory since 2020, McGregor’s most recent win came at the welterweight limit against former title challenger and Hall of Fame inductee, Donald Cerrone, stopping the veteran with a blistering 40-second kncokout win.
And ahead of his proposed June fight with chandler, the Missouri veteran has warned McGregor that he plans to “break” his jaw and leave him career-less following their summer showdown.
“It’s going to be a big car, it’s going to be fun, and I finish Conor (McGregor) within the first two rounds and after that probably end his career,” Michael Chandler said. “There’s just to much more than what people thing about on the surface level. I want battlegrounds of epic proportions, I want to stand in the cage with that man, I want to break that man’s will, I want to break his jaw.
Who wins in a June grudge match: Conor McGregor or Michael Chandler?