“I think Michael Chandler is a favorite in that fight, which is very dangerous for your money.”
If Dustin Poirier fights Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight title, Joe Rogan thinks Conor McGregor could return to the cage against Michael Chandler.
Chandler impressed in his octagon debut with a stunning highlight reel KO of Dan Hooker in the UFC 257 co-main event while McGregor lost via second-round TKO to Poirier in the main event.
While McGregor entered the Poirier bout as a favorite, Rogan believes ‘The Notorious’ would be the betting underdog against Chandler, who is a former three-time Bellator lightweight champ.
“The purist option is Charles Oliveira,” Rogan told Brendan Schaub on a recent episode of JRE when asked about Poirier’s next opponent (h/t Jesse Holland of MMA Mania). “If you’re a purist you want that fight.”
“If you want to make a shitload of money before Conor fights someone else, you have the (Poirier) rematch,” Rogan added. “Here’s the thing, if Conor fights Michael Chandler next, which is a possibility, if Dustin fights Charles Oliveira and Conor fights Michael Chandler, what are the odds that Conor beats Michael Chandler? I think Michael Chandler is a favorite in that fight, which is very dangerous for your money.”
McGregor acknowledged Chandler’s first-round KO win over Hooker at the UFC 257 post-fight press conference but the Irishman is reportedly ‘harassing everybody’ about a trilogy bout with Poirier, according to SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh.
McGregor 2-2 in his last four fights and, prior to UFC 257, had never been knocked out. The former dual-division champ is currently #6 in the UFC lightweight rankings.