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Andreas Hale, ESPN
Michael Chandler waited two years to fight Conor McGregor. Although he has now moved on to a fight with Charles Oliveira on Nov. 16, Chandler has “no doubt” that a fight with McGregor will come to fruition in 2025.
“I’ve made a pivot from McGregor to fight Charles Oliveira and become the No. 1 contender for the UFC lightweight title,” Chandler told ESPN. The UFC has not officially made Oliveira-Chandler a No. 1 contender fight, but Chandler already has his plans for 2025 mapped out.
“There’s no doubt that Chandler versus McGregor happens at some point in 2025,” he continued. “And there’s no doubt that when I beat Charles, I’m next in line for the title. Both of those fights will happen. I will fight for the title, and I will fight Conor McGregor. And I will bet the farm on it.”
Chandler, 38, hasn’t fought since a submission loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 in Nov. 2022. Since then, he coached opposite McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter reality series and has been linked to a fight with the former two-division champion. However, Chandler had waited for well over a year to face McGregor. A showdown between the two was booked for June, but a toe injury forced McGregor out of the fight. Rather than sit on the shelf, Chandler told ESPN, he asked the UFC for another fight.
“I stayed in constant contact with the UFC during the McGregor ordeal, and after the fight was pushed in June, it didn’t look like his timeline was going to line up with mine,” Chandler said. “I reached out to the UFC and said ‘I want to fight someone else. Give me Charles Oliveira.'”
With Oliveira coming off of a loss to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300 in April, Chandler figured that the Brazilian would be ready to fight before the end of 2024. The fight was announced in September as the co-main event of UFC 309, headlined by Jon Jones defending his heavyweight championship against Stipe Miocic. But Chandler knew well before the announcement the direction he was going.
“I knew a month before it was announced that I would be fighting Charles Oliveira next,” Chandler revealed. He also stated that the fight with Oliveira would be a career-high payday for him.
The former Bellator champion said he wants to fight three times in 2025 after being inactive for the past two years. Aside from McGregor and a lightweight title fight, Chandler also has his sights set on another title.
“The third fight on my list is Michael Chandler vs. Max Holloway,” he said of a potential showdown with the current BMF champion. “I know our names were thrown around for a potential fight. The fight was offered to him and a fight with him was offered to me, but our timelines didn’t make sense.”
Holloway will look to reclaim the UFC featherweight title against Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. His BMF title will not be on the line in that fight.
“He has title aspirations just like I do,” Chandler continued. “Did he want to defend the BMF title against me or go back down to featherweight and get his title back? It all made a ton of sense [to fight for the featherweight title], but I would love that BMF fight and would love the opportunity to compete against Max Holloway. I think that fight will happen in 2025 as well
“That’s three fights in 2025 that are going to be absolutely massive.”