“I want to break that man’s will. I want to break his jaw, I want to separate him from consciousness, completely flatline him inside the octagon and then we say farewell to one of the sport’s biggest, or the sport’s biggest star,” the usually respectful and polite Michael Chandler said about Conor McGregor last year.

And there is good reason for ‘Iron’ to hate the bombastic, trash-talking Dubliner so much. The duo, of course, starred as opposing head coaches on season 31 of the UFC’s flagship reality show, ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ two years ago, where things got pretty heated between the two. Not only did ‘Mac’ insult and belittle the former Bellator champ every chance he got but also got physical with ‘Iron’, which the American didn’t really respond to.

No wonder fans were all on board with their fight. But with their fight falling through repeatedly, there is only one question on everyone’s mind. Is McGregor-Chandler ever going to happen? Well, ahead of his UFC 314 clash against Paddy Pimblett next month, Chandler had a pretty surprising answer.

“Listen, I know you, TNT [Sports], everybody else, we all want to know the answer to that question. Listen, obviously, as you can see from my actions, fighting Charles [Oliveira] in November, now Paddy Pimblett in April, I am not waiting for Conor. Conor knows my name is signed to that contract when he comes back. If he wants to fight, obviously we want to do it. We have to finish The Ultimate Fighter 31. I don’t sit here and offer these things up. I always get asked about Conor, obviously, because I am connected to him and his road back to the UFC goes through me to finish The Ultimate Fighter 31,” ‘Iron’ told TNT Sports in an interview.

Surprisingly, not only does Chandler think that he will get to fight McGregor, but is positively salivating at the prospect of it. Before their UFC 303 clash fell through last year due to McGregor’s injury, the card had become the highest gate-grossing card in the promotion’s history, proving the Irishman still remains the sport’s biggest superstar. And Chandler, in the interview, couldn’t help but fantasize about just how big their fight could be.

“I think we’ll do crazy numbers. I think it’ll be an exciting fight. I’ve done nothing but grow my platform and grow my name inside the confines of competition in the UFC. It’s a fun fight. I think it would sell out anywhere across the world. We’ll do massive numbers and I think the fight does happen at some point. But I’m not holding my breath and I’m definitely not sitting on the sidelines as you can see by the decisions I’m making,” he added. While Chandler seems convinced he will be the one to fight ‘Mac’ on his comeback, Dana White seems to be on a different frequency.

Dana White on if Conor McGregor will fight Michael Chandler on comeback

When asked about Conor McGregor’s much-awaited return to the UFC, Dana White had this to say in late 2024: “He hasn’t been fighting here in how long? If he does fight, it will be sometime next year.” As you will remember, this is exactly what the UFC CEO had said in 2023 and the year before that.

But even if the Irishman comes back, it is far from a sure thing that he will fight Chandler, as the former Bellator champ seems to believe. In an interview with Jim Rome last year, the UFC CEO spoke about ‘Mac’s next opponent. “When Conor comes back, which I see being sometime the later part of next year, we’ll see where everybody’s at and what’s going on and we’ll figure out who faces Conor,” the Las Vegas resident clarified.

Even though he may not get to, but Chandler should certainly be the one to fight ‘Mac’. It is tradition for fighters appearing as rival head coaches on ‘TUF’ to fight each other at the end of the season. That, in fact, is almost the entire point of the show, which the UFC uses to set up big fights. Not to mention the very real and palpable bad blood that exists between ‘Mac’ and ‘Iron’, whose personalities are also in sharp contrast to each other.

It would be a real shame if the UFC were to waste all of this existing storyline and match someone else against the Irishman on his comeback. If the Irishman ever comes back at all, which most fans and analysts don’t think he would. What do you think about Michael Chandler’s thoughts on a possible Conor McGregor clash?