Hall of Fame star and promotional color-commenator, Daniel Cormier has urged Michael Chandler to move on from a failed UFC 303 fight with Conor McGregor this month – claiming he expects the Dubliner to now retire definitively from mixed martial arts.
McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight and featherweight champion under the banner of the promotion, has been sidelined for the last three years – after fracturing his left tibia and fibula in a first round doctor’s stoppage TKO loss to common-foe, Dustin Poirier.
And now forced from a UFC 303 return during International Fight Week later this month, McGregor has been struck with an undisclosed injury – and whilst it has been described as not “severe”, the veteran is still expected to be out of action for at least two months.
Seeing himself scratched from the UFC 303 headliner as a result, Chandler will watch on as undisputed light heavyweight kingpin, Alex Pereira drafts into a main event fight on just two weeks notice – in a rematch against former champion, Jiri Prochazka.
Michael Chandler urged to move on from Conor McGregor fight
With speculation rife regarding the immediate fighting future of McGregor – whom UFC CEO, Dana White elected against discussing in the aftermath of his exit from the pay-per-view card, Chandler has been urged to chase other fights by Cormier, in order to snap his almost two-year hiatus.
“He’s (Michael Chandler) got some things to weigh going forward because I don’t know that he should wait anymore,” Daniel Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I think it’s time to move off of this, and I believe that the overwhelming sentiment is that [Conor McGregor] is done.”
“I thought Conor McGregor was going to come back because to me, Conor McGregor’s a fighter,” Cormier explained. “I know, skill-for-skill, the Conor McGregor of 2015 isn’t the same guy. But I thought that the star was still the same. I just don’t know that he wants to fight. Especially right now.”
Do you think Michael Chandler should move away from a fight with Conor McGregor?