The speculations about Conor McGregor and his return to the Octagon don’t seem to end, as he was initially slated to take on Michael Chandler after more than three years of inactivity. But guess what? He’s got another challenge in front of him in the form of Dan Hooker, and they recently agreed to fight each other in February next year. However, ‘The Hangman’ appears to have backtracked a little bit.

Dan Hooker caught up with McGregor at Marbella in Spain to witness some BKFC action, and seeing how the Irishman’s been operating, the 5th-ranked UFC lightweight seemed impressed. “The guy’s busy, he’s got money coming out of his ears. If I had that amount of money in the bank, you wouldn’t see me anywhere near a fistfight,” Hooker told Helen Yee.

In a surprising but wonderful development, Dan Hooker claimed that his wife is due to give birth to his second child next year, citing that as the reason why he cannot fight Conor McGregor in the earlier agreed timeline. “I’m going to go in January or March. The missus is due February, so no can go,” Hooker added. Even though the timeline may not align, do you think Dana White will go ahead with this proposition?

This uncertainty about a potential fight against Dan Hooker has only added to the woes of the Irishman. And if you’re wondering why, it’s because Dana White made a surprising statement after the Michael Chandler vs Charles Oliveira matchup announcement that ‘Iron’ is no longer in the running for a matchup with McGregor. But why did the former Bellator champion choose to fight the Brazilian ace instead of bagging that big ‘red panty night’ paycheck? Well, Chandler seemed to have explained this pretty well.

Why is Michael Chandler not waiting for Conor McGregor?

The most significant goal that the majority of the fighters in the UFC have is to win the world title. That’s exactly what Michael Chandler has in mind. It’s been a while waiting for Conor McGregor to come back and even when the fight was scheduled, it fell apart pretty quickly, and ‘Iron’ seemed to have had it. He believes that going for the title is what’s important now and that a win over Charles Oliveira would bring him to that position.

“I got more promo, more eyeballs, more everything in the last year and a half than I would have gotten in three fights and now I get the opportunity to take a title run,” Michael Chandler told ESPN. “I beat Charles Oliveira and I become the number one contender.” Meanwhile, Dana White hasn’t confirmed that claim, but who knows? Chandler’s created quite the noise for himself in the past year. It remains to be seen how that affects Conor McGregor, as the Irishman still has a couple of fights left on his contract.

What do you make of Dan Hooker taking a major U-Turn from the timeline he shared about fighting Conor McGregor? Drop your comments below.