Conor McGregor taunted Michael Chandler by telling him "you'll do what you're told" ahead of their UFC clash later this year.
UFC legend McGregor, 34, makes his fighting return against Chandler, 37, at a yet-to-be-announced event later this year. The rivals recently completed filming against each other for season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter and the UFC has been releasing snippets to promote the upcoming season, which airs at the end of this month.
In unseen footage during an episode of the season, McGregor proposes his fight against Chandler should take place at middleweight. He said: "Have they told you what weight it's going to be? 185!" Chandler then replied: "You wanna do 185, we'll do 185," with McGregor firing back by saying: "You'll do what you're told, I'm going to pin you. This is my game, this is my game forever.
McGregor was also seen forcefully pushing Chandler in a different trailer after going face-to-face with his rival in the cage. The former two-weight UFC champion could be heard threatening to break Chandler's nose, with UFC boss Dana White previously addressed the brief scuffle that took place during a press conference after a pay-per-view event in March.
“Chandler and Conor were very respectful to each other and then some things started escalating that you’ll see on the show," White said. "They do not like each other now, a lot of s*** went down. I don’t look at stuff that’s good for the show or things like that. Whatever happens, happens. The stuff that just happened shouldn’t have happened and I’m getting old, boys. I would’ve been in there sooner back in the old days but not good, there was a lot of s*** that went down."
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McGregor has remained respectful of Chandler for the most part despite their run-in during filming for The Ultimate Fighter. Chandler, a former Bellator MMA world champion, first called out McGregor for a fight after knocking out Dan Hooker on the undercard of Irishman's loss to Dustin Poirier in January 2021.
It's unclear when McGregor's fight against Chandler will take place as the UFC legend is yet to re-enter the USADA testing pool. All UFC fighters must undergo six months of mandatory drug testing before they are eligible to fight and McGregor has not submitted a test since the third quarter of 2021.
