UFC legend Chael Sonnen has told Michael Chandler he should "wake up" to the idea that his fight with Conor McGregor may never happen.
Sonnen has backed the considerable number of fans who feel McGregor may never fight again after watching the Irishman gamble in Las Vegas over the weekend while attending the Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia fight. The Irishman was spotted enjoying a night in Sin City, despite having a fight lined up with Chandler, but Sonnen questions how that means he's not coming back.
No date has been made for the bout, primarily down to an unsolved issue between McGregor and USADA, who have not tested him since his last fight against Dustin Poirier in July of 2021. Such a significant time off means that he must take on a six month period in the testing pool, during which time he must be tested twice which would delay the fight significantly.
“I do think that topic is fair game," Sonnen told fans in a new YouTube video discussing the topic. "It’s certainly not what we’ve been told is going to happen with Conor - we know nothing. We know that there’s no match, no weight against Chandler, no 155lbs or 170lbs, no training camp in Big Bear they’re in the middle of. Nothing we’ve been told is accurate... but that’s okay.”
McGregor and Chandler have filmed a new season of The Ultimate Fighter, set to begin airing next month in America on ESPN, with the season finale expected to be a pay-per-view bout between the pair. However, a date has yet to be set and it hasn't even been confirmed if the two lightweights will be forced to get down to 155lb or allowed to move to welterweight.
“At some point Chandler is going to wake up and realise that, 'I don’t have a fight coming up with Conor'," Sonnen continued. "Which means 'I don’t have a fight coming up at all and I'm a prize fighter'. It's going to be one of those situations at some point, but what does happen and why is that not happening?
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"It seems like a really good idea to me, it seems like a really good match to me. What else would you like to see Chandler do and do you believe that Conor will come back but against somebody else? That's where it gets tough and that's where you do start to speculate 'maybe he's not coming back'.
"I can't think of a better opponent, I can't think of something I'd like to see more, I can't think of anything that's got any more wind behind it than Chandler. So if we're not doing Chandler are we just not doing this? In all fairness, that would be on the table. It would be a very light prediction, don't bet too much on that but you'd have very good reason to look at it.
"As the days go by they turn into weeks, those weeks are turning into months. There are definitely things that are off and they do have an ability to have long-term effects. It's a domino! You get one fall or one that doesn't fall and it can effect so many different things."
