‘He can sit on his yacht’ – Michael Chandler eyes new opponent for next fight after Conor McGregor collapse
Michael Chandler's patience for Conor McGregor is growing thin.
Chandler has been waiting patiently for his opportunity to duke it out with McGregor since last year when they went head-to-head as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter season 31.
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They were initially supposed to face each other at the back end of 2023 but McGregor missed the deadline to re-enter the USADA drug testing pool.
Eventually, both men were matched for June 29 in the UFC 303 main event, however, their welterweight clash was called off after McGregor suffered a broken toe in sparring.
Chandler has been campaigning for the bout to be rescheduled to UFC 306 at the Las Vegas Sphere yet nothing has been confirmed at the time of writing.
With the fight seemingly in a state of limbo once again, Chandler is exploring his options.
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Earlier this month, he revealed that the UFC had offered him a blockbuster showdown with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in October.
And now, he is talking up the possibility fighting Nate Diaz on social media.
Replying to a fan who was calling for a Diaz-McGregor trilogy on X, Chandler wrote: "Sit down Ron. Better idea - me and @NateDiaz209 fight like men, while Conor sits on a yacht and watches on PPV in slippers."
Diaz left the UFC in 2022 and is currently competing in professional boxing.
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He lost his debut to Jake Paul in August 2023 but bounced back to beat Jorge Masvidal last Saturday in a rematch, five years removed from their UFC 244 clash, which Masvidal won via third round doctors stoppage.
After leaving the UFC, company president Dana White insisted that Diaz would always be welcome back while the Stockton native remains open to the idea as well.
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“We feel the same way about Nate. We always have,” said White last year.
“I always joke around about dealing with the Diaz Brothers. These two, you see it now.
";They’re two iconic fighters that 20 years from now everybody will remember and talk about.
"This will always be Nate’s house. Nate grew up here. He came up on The Ultimate Fighter.
"He fought some of the biggest fights ever here. We love the kid. I don’t know about fighting in the future, but this is always going to be his house. We’ll see.”
A rubber match with McGregor seems like an inevitability with the scores currently tied at 1-1.
Whether that will be in boxing or MMA, only time will tell.
As for Chandler vs Diaz, there's probably nothing in it - at least for now.
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