BREAKING: Conor McGregor Announces He's Fighting Michael Chandler On June 29th - AT 185LBS?!
Welp, scratch everything I just said in this blog....
....because it seems Conor McGregor got a little overanxious to share the big news with us while he was at dinner tonight, and let us in on the secret early....
"Ladies and gentlemen - Happy New Year to you all. I'd like to announce the return date for myself, "The Notorious" Conor McGregor, for the greatest comeback of all time.
It'll take place in Las Vegas for International Fight Week on June the 29th. And the opponent? Michael Chandler. And the weight, Mr Chandler? 185lbs."
Dana giving him a fight date/opponent was like gift card money to a kid after Christmas - it was burning a hole in his pocket. He just had to share it.
I thought this could've been a troll announcement by Conor at first, because we were all expecting McGregor vs Chandler to headline UFC 300 - and McGregor ends the video by saying the fight will be at 185lbs and hitting an all time evil villain laugh - but Ariel Helwani claims this is legit….
First of all - thank the lord that this was an actual UFC return announcement, and not a "boxing fight with Manny Pacquiao" or Petr Yan or some shit announcement.
Secondly - why the hell do we have to wait until June 29th for this fight?! If Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler are both ready to go for UFC 300 in April, why are we postponign the fight til International Fight Week?! That's a move I don't entirely understand.
Do they feel like UFC 300 is gonna sell out no matter what, so it's not worth "wasting" a McGregor main event on? Do they want to book a bigger venue (like Allegiant Stadium) for McGregor's return, and have the time to build to that? Do they already have an insane UFC 300 main event just waiting to be announced that'll blow our minds, making McGregor an unnecessary inclusion?
I'm excited to hear Dana White discuss this decision, because with no disrespect to Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammed II as a fight - it just can't be the UFC 300 headliner. There has to be something bigger.
Finally, as far as the 185lbs thing goes - I hope it's just Conor being Conor, playing off the meme that started their season of The Ultimate Fighter….
I'd be fine with them fighting at 170lbs or something if they don't wanna cut all that weight for a "superfight", but fighting at 185lbs just seems ridiculous. I know McGregor's huge now, but these guys are lightweights. What are we doing if we're having them fight at middleweight?
Slight confusion aside, though I'm legit stoked we finally have a date to look forward to for Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler. I want to do as much content as possible with the Bussin with the Boys crew on the road to that fight and hopefully bring you guys the best pre-fight material out there. It's gonna be fun.
P.S. Conor McGregor will probably never get the credit he deserves for the tough fights he's taken coming off long layoffs. Guy didn't step into the octagon for nearly two years before fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 because of the Mayweather detour, and now - coming off snapping his leg in half and being out THREE YEARS - he's getting into there with one of the most dangerous/violent fighters in the UFC. They'll still say he just looks for "easy" fights because he fought Cowboy at the tail end of his career, though.