“Iron” wants to break his curse.
Michael Chandler makes his long-awaited Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) return to competition after unsuccessfully waiting for Conor McGregor as he takes on Charles Oliveira this weekend (Sat., Nov. 16, 2024) at UFC 309 from inside the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Chandler last competed inside MSG in a losing effort against Dustin Poirier and looks to right the wrong in the legendary building – in fact, he is 0-3 at MSG.
“Iron” lost to Brent Primus when he was with Bellator, the only time Bellator visited “The Garden.” Then Chandler lost to Justin Gaethje in his second UFC fight, which ended up being Fight of the Year, and, a year later, lost to Poirier.
Some might call it a curse—just like Derrick Lewis constantly losing in his home state of Texas or Chris Weidman losing in New York three times. But it’s not necessarily a curse for Chandler; rather, it’s a storyline.
“I’m defeated at MSG, 0-3,” Chandler told Ariel Helwani. “I actually just ran into a guy who had been to all three of my fights at MSG, and he’s like, ‘Hey dude, we gotta break the MSG curse.’ But I also look at this like another layer where I’m like, of course, this is how it’s supposed to be: to fight the guy who has already beat you, who also shattered your dreams to fight at the arena who has also shattered your dreams every single time. I’ve never won inside there, and now it’s time to right that wrong.”
Is Chandler superstitious about fighting in an arena where he’s lost so much?
“No, not even a little bit,” Chandler said. “I asked for this card. We wanted to fight in October but I need to do a serious legit weigh cut. I had been preparing my mind and body for 170 lbs for the last year and a half, and now I only have 10 weeks in order to get down to 155 for October. It wasn’t going to happen; it was too soon, so I wanted MSG, and we got it.”
With a win inside Madison Square Garden, Chandler believes he will snatch Oliveria’s No. 2 ranking, forcing Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev to fight him in 2025.
Good luck breaking the curse, Mike.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 309 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPNews at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
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