Conor McGregor Is ‘Smarter’ & ‘Better Conditioned’ Than Michael Chandler, Arman Tsarukyan Claims

Arman Tsarukyan thinks Conor McGregor will win his UFC 303 bout against Michael Chandler if it goes past the opening round. The Armenian, who is coming off of a unanimous decision victory over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 in their number one lightweight contender bout, joined former champion and UFC commentator Michael Bisping for an interview on the latter’s YouTube channel.

During the course of their conversation, the two men got to discussing McGregor’s much-awaited comeback bout on June 29 following three years of inactivity. Tsarukyan, who has been feuding with Chandler, told Bisping that if the former Bellator champion couldn’t knockout ‘Mac’ in the first round (of their five-round bout), he sees McGregor winning.

“I mean like he never use his brain, he always fight for the fan, you know. That’s why he’s gonna like try to knock him out and he’s going to try to knock him out because he’s so dangerous in the first round. I feel like if he can finish Conor in the first round, but like it’s a going to be five rounds fight, right,” he said.

“So if [the] fight’s going to… second round, third round, he’s going to lose that fight because he got to knock him out in the first round… Or like he’s going to lose the fight because Conor, I feel like he’s better. His [conditioning] is better and like he’s more smarter than Chandler,” the 27-year-old added.

While the 27-year-old was remarkably respectful about Chandler in his conversation with Bisping, this was not the case when he clapped back at the former Bellator champion a few days ago for questioning his decision to refuse a title shot.

Tsarukyan savages Chandler ahead of Conor McGregor bout

After becoming the official number one contender after UFC 300, Arman Tsarukyan was offered a shot at lightweight champion Islam Makhachev on June 1. However, the Armenian turned it down since he found the turnaround of merely six weeks too little time to adequately recover and train.

Michael Chandler, asked about Tsarukyan turning down the bout, was puzzled and stated he didn’t understand why he turned it down, given that the sport moves so quickly. While there was some truth in Chandler’s statement, Tsarukyan disagreed with his fellow lightweight and came back with a savage reply, calling out Chandler’s record and admission that he cares more about entertaining fans than winning a title.

“I don’t expect you to understand (Michael Chandler). We are not on the same level. I am here to be the champ. You are just waiting for a paycheck. I also don’t understand why you waited Conor fight for 2 years, you could’ve lost 4 exciting fights during that time,” he said.

Chandler has since then commented that any fighter in his position would have bided their time for a shot at the big-money fight that is McGregor. But before this long wait, Chandler competed five times in two years since his UFC debut. Will his nearly two-year-long wait affect him as much as McGregor’s three-year layoff? What do you think about Tsarukyan’s comments about McGregor-Chandler?