Conor McGregor is facing serious questions ahead of his UFC 303 clash against Michael Chandler on June 29. The bombastic Irishman is coming back after three years out of the octagon, sitting on consecutive losses, facing advancing age, and a general decline in his abilities as a fighter since his historic 2017 clash against Khabib Nurmagomedov.

This has made many question if the former two-division champion has it in him to defeat Chandler or even compete with the top guys in the UFC’s most competitive lightweight division. But former UFC veteran and keen-eyed analyst Dan Hardy is all in on McGregor and predicted that the biggest superstar in mixed martial arts history will make easy work of the former Bellator champion.

Dan Hardy thinks Chandler’s bout will be a cakewalk for Conor McGregor

Hardy was asked his thoughts on how he saw the much-awaited upcoming return of the ‘Mac’ going. Despite the lingering questions around McGregor’s comeback, UFC 303 has already broken the record for the highest-grossing gate of any UFC event in its nearly quarter-century history. And Hardy felt that there were two main reasons why the Irishman would win. The first was the electric environment of a McGregor fight, which, he felt, Chandler could not grasp until he made his walkout at the T-Mobile Arena.

The UFC vet was also not concerned about a recent video of McGregor partying late into the night at his Black Forge Inn pub in Dublin, which many felt showed the Irishman was not taking his fight camp seriously.

“Man even after the video of him partying the other night, I’m still confident that he can do it. I just feel there’s something special about the way that McGregor controls the space that his opponents step into and I say that intentionally, like Michael Chandler is stepping into McGregor’s world… But there’s nothing like a Conor McGregor event. Even Michael Chandler’s going to be in awe and a little overwhelmed by it,” he said.

The second reason Hardy felt ‘Notorious’ would be able to pull off a win against his rival ‘The Ultimate Fighter 31’ head coach was because of the latter’s lack of strategic thinking when he gets into the octagon. Chandler, of course, has gotten a bad rep and has been accused by some, such as official #1 lightweight title contender Arman Tsaruyan, of having “the worst” fight IQ in the division.

This is a bit unfair, however, since Chandler, when he joined the UFC, declared that his main objective was to have exciting, competitive fights, which explains why he fights the way he does, which has been ridiculed by the likes of Tsarukyan. And while Hardy was quite polite in his remarks, he essentially felt that this was the reason McGregor would emerge victorious.

“And Michael Chandler is not very strategic in the way that he fights these days; he’s there for a scrap and I think that plays into McGregor’s hands, you know. When you’ve got someone that’s reckless like Aldo was, they run into range, and he picks them off. I feel like the ability to manage distance and control range that McGregor’s got—that’s what keeps him head and shoulders above Michael Chandler in this one,” he added.

While Hardy certainly is not concerned about McGregor partying till 3 in the morning, the story got a new lease of life after the cancellation of a UFC 303 press conference today.

Dana White weighs in on party-gate

A press conference for UFC 303, originally scheduled for today in Conor McGregor’s hometown of Dublin, was rescheduled abruptly by the UFC. While the promotion promised to let the fans know as soon as a new date was decided upon, it did not give any particular reason for the delay. This last-minute postponement had the UFC-verse buzzing, with ‘Mac’s party gate featuring prominently in it.

Fans flooded the internet with theories, with some joking that ‘Notorious’ was too hungover to attend. Even UFC CEO Dana White was concerned about the video showing McGregor in the wee hours of the morning. The Power Slap founder weighed in on party-gate in a recent interview and said that he didn’t even know if the two videos were true of the date they were purported to be since McGregor looked different to him in them.

Perhaps in an attempt to mitigate the disapproval that the clip has already generated among fans, White pointed out that GOAT contender Jon Jones was notorious for partying hard even days away from his fights. What are your thoughts on Hardy’s predictions?