When Conor McGregor teased his big New Year’s Day fight announcement, Michael Chandler wasn’t sure what to think.
“I had an idea, but you never quite know,” Chandler told ESPN in an interview released Friday. “Is it gonna be another troll job? Is it gonna be another Conor center-of-attention deal? Is it gonna be silence? What tactic is he gonna use again to keep everybody on the edge of their seats? Not just me. Obviously he’s done a lot of things over the last year or so that was directly intended for me to hear and directly intended for my team to hear that everybody ran with.”
Indeed, the past year – particularly the past six months – has been filled with mind games from McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who’s promised “the greatest comeback in sports history” but has yet to deliver. Things took a step in the right direction on New Year’s, however, as McGregor announced on social media that he will return to the UFC on June 29 for International Fight Week in Las Vegas, and he his opponent will, in fact, be Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) – which has been expected ever since they served as opposing coaches last year on “The Ultimate Fighter 31.”
