Conor McGregor 's next UFC opponent has backed the Irishman to fill the 70,000 seat Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for their fight.
Former two-weight UFC champion McGregor, 34, will look for his first win in over three years when he fights Michael Chandler later this year. The rivals will first coach against each other on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter, as no date or location has yet been announced for their upcoming fight. The Ultimate Fighter will air on TV from May until August and it's expected that McGregor and Chandler will fight shortly after that.
Chandler is keen on fighting against McGregor in Las Vegas having never competed in Nevada during his professional career. UFC pay-per-view events in Las Vegas have taken place at the T-Mobile Arena since 2016, with the venue hosting a maximum of 20,000 fans. Chandler has proposed the Allegiant Stadium as an alternative for their fight, as the venue can hold almost 72,000 spectators at maximum capacity.
When do you think Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler? Let us know your prediction in the comments section below
"Conor has been talking about Croke Park in Ireland, he's spoken about Jerry Jones' Dallas Cowboys stadium. A Conor fight can easily fill a stadium. His comeback fight against me, one of the most dangerous and the most exciting guy in the division. We sell the thing out for sure. I might call them [the UFC] today to get them working on this stadium thing," Chandler said on The MMA Hour.
The highest attendance for a UFC event took place in October 2019, when Israel Adesanya knocked out Robert Whittaker in front of 57,000 fans at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne,. Australia. McGregor and Chandler would trump that record if they sold out the Allegiant Stadium and Chandler is also confident their fight could break the UFC's pay-per-view record.
“If you look at the numbers, I think two million [buys], it’s not just a possibility, I think it’s very achievable and very attainable,” Chandler added. “It’s hard for me to toot my own horn, but I think what I’ve created is a level of intrigue and mystique that when I show up on fight night and that cage door closes, all hell breaks loose and my foot is on the gas.
“I haven’t seen a brake pedal at all since I signed with the organisation. Honestly, since I started fighting. “It’s just continued to build and build and build. So you look at why this fight got made, Conor knows it’s going to do big numbers. Everybody is tuning in. Everybody is buying the pay-per-view for that night, the buildup to this thing, could be the biggest pay-per-view that we’ve ever seen."
