It might not come anytime soon, what with Michael Chandler healing up from a brutal war with Justin Gaethje, and Conor McGregor rehabbing his broken leg. But the two UFC lightweight stars have agreed to face off somewhere down the line.
After coming out on the wrong side of a unanimous decision at UFC 268, Chandler took to social media to suggest a 2022 date with McGregor.
2022 pic.twitter.com/Da0D3zhOEr
— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) November 8, 2021
McGregor replied by saying “I’m down at some stage for sure. Great fight the other night Mike, congrats!”
McGregor (22-6) last competed at UFC 264 in July, where he suffered a broken leg in his fight with Dustin Poirier. Despite the severity of the injury, by all accounts, the Irish star’s recovery is going well, with manager Audie Attar telling U.K. publication The Sun last month that McGregor was “ahead of schedule.”
The injury loss dropped McGregor to 1-3 in his last four fights, with a second loss to Poirier, and his notorious defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov. His lone win in that stretch came against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
That being said, there are options aplenty for a potential return in 2022 for Conor McGregor. A trilogy fight with Nate Diaz, a showdown with Tony Ferguson, and the fight with Michael Chandler would all be big draws. There’s also the possibility of a fourth fight with Dustin Poirier, given their rubber match never came to its proper conclusion.
Michael Chandler (22-7) fell to 1-2 in the UFC with the loss to Gaethje at UFC 268. The former multi-time Bellator MMA lightweight champion won his promotional debut against Dan Hooker earlier this year, but was finished by Charles Oliveira in their title fight at UFC 262 back in May.
The landscape of the lightweight division could change drastically in 2022, with Oliveira lined up to fight Dustin Poirier in early December, plus Islam Makhachev and Justin Gaethje waiting in the wings.
