-
Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff Writer
UFC lightweight Michael Chandler is moving on from a fight against Conor McGregor — at least for now.
Chandler (23-8) will face Charles Oliveira (34-10) in a five-round co-main event at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden, UFC president Dana White told Barstool Sports on Friday night. The UFC had not yet announced a main event for that card, but an announcement was expected soon.
The bout will be a rematch of a vacant championship bout that took place in 2021, when Chandler hurt Oliveira with punches in the opening round of the fight before suffering a TKO loss in the second round.
The news does not necessarily mean Chandler will not fight McGregor (22-6), whom he coached against on “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2023. The two were supposed to fight in June, but McGregor was forced to pull out of the bout because of a toe injury. It was the first time McGregor had ever pulled out of a scheduled bout. He has not fought since 2021.
McGregor has claimed on social media he wanted to fight in 2024, even posting video of himself training recently, but the UFC has publicly stated he would not fight until 2025.
In a video posted on his Instagram account on Friday, Chandler explained his decision to fight Oliveira instead of waiting for McGregor, whom he called “the most unreliable human being that has ever graced mixed martial arts.”
“Now I get the opportunity to fight Charles Oliveira, become the No. 1 contender, and then I’ve got options,” Chandler said in his video.
“If Conor can finally get his house in order, if he can finally string together a couple of sober days, string together a couple of days where he’s actually training and actually feeling good, and he can actually finally make good on his promise to make the greatest comeback in combat sports history, if he can finally pony up, then I will fight Conor after I dispatch of Charles Oliveira.”
Chandler also said he hopes a fight with current champion Islam Makhachev will be an option in 2025.
McGregor, speaking later Friday at a news conference following a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship event, addressed the Chandler-Oliveira bout, saying he is “happy with the date” and how it might fit with his own potential fight with Chandler.
“It’s November,” he said of Chandler’s bout with Oliveira. “Maybe we can still do it after if they’re not going to line me up out until maybe December, January, February or something like that.”
McGregor was visibly frustrated with the inability to secure a fight date. He said he had gone as far as reaching out to Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, for assistance with landing a fight date. Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season extended its partnership with the UFC in May and is the title partner for Noche UFC at The Sphere.
“I’m just a bit out of the loop,” he said. “All I can do is carry on doing what I’m doing. I test, I train daily, and that’s it. Let’s see what happens. Hopefully, it all comes to fruition.”
Chandler, a former lightweight champion in Bellator MMA, has not fought since a submission loss to Dustin Poirier in 2022, mostly because he elected to wait on a fight with McGregor.
After his vacant title fight with Chandler, Oliveira went on to defend the belt twice before losing it to Makhachev.