Conor McGregor’s highly-anticipated announcement of his eventual combat return went off without the explosion most expected. That’s because “Notorious” revealed that not only would he not be fighting at UFC 300 in April, but that his next fight would be taking place in the Middleweight division against Michael Chandler in June 2024.
That left a lot of people in the combat community perplexed, with many wondering if the “Notorious” troll master was doing just that. While it doesn’t seem as if this is a legit troll job, one person does believe McGregor is playing games.
According to Daniel Cormier, all his fellow former “champ-champ” club member is doing is manipulating Chandler into doing whatever he pleases since he is obviously the “A-side.” In “D.C.’s” assessment, he would have liked to see Chandler put his foot down every now and again instead of bending to McGregor’s every demand just for the sake of locking down the fight.
“It’s happening at 185,” Cormier said on “DC & RC,” via MMA Junkie. “It shouldn’t happen there. I agree that it doesn’t have the meaning that it should have (at lightweight). But I still believe it does because I believe that Conor McGregor is just going to make Michael Chandler do whatever he wants.
“And if that means fighting at a weight class he’s never fought at, that he doesn’t feel comfortable at, that’s what he’s going to do because he feels like it’s going to be in his favor,” he added before saying the McGregor is great at pulling the strings.
“I think this is a game. I think Conor McGregor is the puppetmaster, and I think Michael Chandler is being far too easy to play with,” Cormier said. “At this point, Michael Chandler is Pinocchio. Conor McGregor’s doing stuff like (pulling puppet strings) with Michael Chandler and I don’t like it because I like Michael Chandler. But I think he’s doing too much.”
Chandler has indeed stated that he’d be willing to take on McGregor at any weight class, proving that he does have confidence to face and defeat the former featherweight and lightweight champion regardless of division. That said, Chandler would be going up two weight classes, and he isn’t the biggest 155-pounder around.
Whether or not this fight actually takes place at 185 pounds remains to be seen in the coming months. But one thing that does seem certain, if there is a change it will come at the request of “Notorious.”