Michael Chandler has come to Conor McGregor’s defense.
With speculation swirling that McGregor entered his UFC 329 loss to Max Holloway carrying an injury, or that he looked for a way out once the fight started to go wrong, Chandler pushed back on X.
One thing [Conor] is not, he’s not a quitter, he’s not a bamboozler. I believe [Conor] wants to fight me, I believe he tried to fight me. I know everybody is disappointed but keep on watching. This ain’t the last you’re going to see of Conor. I’m excited to see how it all plays out.
Chandler has a personal stake in McGregor’s future. The two were booked to headline against each other in 2024 before McGregor withdrew with a broken toe, and Chandler has continued to chase the matchup ever since. His insistence that McGregor “tried to fight me” nods to that long-delayed showdown, which the surgery McGregor now faces could push back even further.
Before his five-year layoff, McGregor’s last two outings were both losses to Dustin Poirier, a second-round knockout at UFC 257 in January 2021 and the broken-leg stoppage in their UFC 264 rematch that July.
