Michael Chandler has suggested that a fight with Conor McGregor could happen in ‘winter at the latest' following the pair coaching on The Ultimate Fighter.
The new season of the UFC TV show will air from May 30 to August 15, with McGregor and Chandler going head to head with their respective teams.
Initially, the pair were meant to fight at the end of summer following the filming of their show. However, the former three-time Bellator lightweight champion indicated otherwise.
“Conor says one thing, Usada (United States Anti-Doping Agency) says another,” Chandler told ESPN, as he highlighted McGregor’s absence from the testing pool.
“Conor [likes to] publicly be in spats, whether it be Dana [White, UFC president] here and there, sponsors here and there, people who it doesn’t even make sense for him to be picking fights with, different weight classes, different organisations, all kinds of stuff.
“It’s all just a big show. I don’t know what the understanding is. I could see it very well being just two clean tests [that McGregor needs to compete]. I have no problem with it being two clean tests, I could [not] care less. If you do two clean tests, sounds to me like you’re clean.
“At this point, who am I to say what the stipulations are? I’m ready for him to be cleared or at least get that answer. At this point, we don’t have an answer.”
Athletes must have zero positive tests and have participated in Usada's testing pool for at least six months in order to compete in the UFC. McGregor, however, suggested he could be exempt from this rule.
“Ultimately, all I gotta do is leave it up to how it’s supposed to happen,” Chandler added.
“At this point, I’m believing we’re going to fight later on this fall, maybe winter at the latest. We’ll see what happens.”
Both McGregor and Chandler normally compete at lightweight. Although, both fighters are open for the bout to take place at welterweight.
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