Midnight Mania: Iron Mike Sets McGregor Ultimatum

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Michael Chandler's next move isn't certain.

After spending the better part of two years waiting to fight Conor McGregor, the Irishman's unfortunate toe injury derailed the contest at the last second. Chandler didn't opt to wait much longer, jumping into the cage on short-notice in a rematch with Charles Oliveira. "Do Bronx" was victorious a second time, battering Chandler for most of five rounds in an entertaining contest.

What's next for the 38 year old? He's still eyeing the McGregor fight, but now he's setting a timeline of six months to make it happen. Otherwise, he intends to move on.

"If Conor doesn't come back in the first-half of 2025, I will be fighting someone else," Chandler explained to Lucky Block. "There are other fights I'm interested in. I didn't fight for two years but that wasn't all waiting, I wanted to take some time and give my body a break after my first five fights in the promotion which included a title fight and fight of the nights and the fight of the year.

"My body needed a little bit of a break and I was happy to. Part of me was hanging onto this Conor thing but also kind of a little bit of gamesmanship, enjoying the time off, letting my body heal up a little bit."

What are the consequences of McGregor's pullout over summer? Per Chandler, it was an expensive toe injury that cost McGregor face and the UFC quite a bit of money.

"The UFC lost money, I'm sure that they took some flack for the fight falling through and changing the card at short notice, as well as having to pay more money for people to step in at short notice. There's a bunch of different business things happening because booking a fight in the UFC is a task. Booking a big fight is a very tough task, but booking a fight with Conor McGregor is a very, very, very unique task.

"I understand the implications. I understand that it's not just like booking another fight and I'm here for the ride. If it works out, it works out. If it doesn't, my legacy is not tied to Conor. My legacy is not tied with fighting Conor and I've still got a lot of tread left on the tires and a lot of big fights to come."

Other than McGregor, Chandler also expressed interest in facing Paddy Pimblett or Jorge Masvidal as potential opponents. Any of those fights could be blockbuster bookings, so it seems that "Iron" has options despite his current two-fight skid.

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