Despite his recent dust-up with Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler still wants Conor McGregor next.

At UFC 276, Chandler and Poirier got into a cage-side confrontation where the two had to be separated by security. Given that both men are currently in the Top-5 of the UFC lightweight rankings, and have taken shots at one another before, some assumed a fight to settle the score could be coming soon. However, Chandler isn’t focused on that at the moment.

“I’m not here for internet beefs,” Chandler told TMZ Sports. “I did say I’m not here for a long time, I’m here for a good time, and I’m going to have a good time, but man that Justin Gaethje fight is going to be there forever. That Poirier fight is going to be there forever.”

Instead of Poirier, Chandler went on to say he wanted to fight Beneil Dariush next to determine the No. 1 contender at lightweight. But with Dariush now set to face Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 280, instead Chandler is left to focus all of his energy on his first choice of opponent, Conor McGregor. Rumors circulated that former champion Charles Oliveira wanted to wait for McGregor to fight for the interim title, but with Oliveira set to fight Islam Makhachev now, as Chandler sees it, that opens up the McGregor fight he’s been calling for for some time.

“I think it does. Obviously I think the biggest thing for Conor is timeline,” Chandler said. “The guy snapped his leg. It wasn’t a small injury. It required surgery, maybe multiple surgery, a titanium rod going in and all that stuff. As you’ve seen my pursuit of the Conor McGregor fight, the Chandler vs. Conor fight, in my pursuit I’m not going to be throwing stones at the guy. The guy completely shattered his leg and it was literally just a year ago. Have people come back quicker than he’s going to come back? Yes, probably, but we don’t know the extent of Conor’s injury. All we know is he snapped it last July. We’ve seen him post some stuff on social media, we’ve seen he’s getting back to training, but the sport is better and the organization and the lightweight division is better when Conor McGregor is a part of it. That being said, he needs to come back at the right time.

“I do think it opens the door if Conor’s coming back any time soon. I’m not booked right now. If Conor’s coming back anytime soon I think me and Conor would make some fireworks and I think it’s the fight fans want to see. I think it’s the biggest fight that we can make in mixed martial arts right now and I try to say that as humbly as possible, but I think it’s a huge fight.”

Since joining the UFC last year, Chandler has been exceedingly active. He fought three times in 2021, and then again this past May, knocking out Tony Ferguson with a KO of the Year worthy front kick. And while in a perfect world Chandler would like to keep up his rate of activity, “Iron” Mike says he’s willing to wait until 2023 for the McGregor fight is that’s what it takes.

“I think if Conor came out tomorrow, or his management or his doctor, came out tomorrow and said Conor will definitely be back January for sure, and then subsequently he comes out and says he wants to fight me, I’ll definitely wait until January or February,” Chadnler said. “But at this point if he’s not coming back and there’s no guarantee that that fight is happening to put those pieces of the puzzle together, to make sure those two stars align, at the right time at the right place, I would probably have to move on. But I think me and Conor happens no matter what, eventually. It’s going to happen down the line.”

TOP STORIES

Grappling. Charles Oliveira offers to start Islam Makhachev fight on the ground: ‘I’m not afraid of getting taken down’.

Call out. Rafael Fiziev doubles down on callout of Justin Gaethje: ‘We need to find out who is the nose job’ king.

Beef. ‘Pissed off’ Paddy Pimblett believes Jordan Leavitt’s ‘head is going to fall off’ at UFC London.

Blue print. Valentina Shevchenko dismisses claims she was exposed by Taila Santos: ‘It’s one thing to pretend they know’ and another to ‘do it’.

VIDEO STEW

The MMA Hour.

Looking back at the previous UFC London.

Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann play EA UFC 4.

Bellator slo-mo KOs.

BTS with Israel Adesanya and Elden Ring.

LISTEN UP

No Bets Barred. Breaking down the best bets at UFC London.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Khamzat Chimaev.

Paddy.

And for reference.

Paddy has a fan.

Aljo getting dangerously close to disrespecting Jose Aldo.

Call outs.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Petr Yan (16-3) vs. Sean O’Malley (15-1); UFC 280, Oct. 22.

Beneil Dariush (21-4-1) vs. Mateusz Gamrot (21-1); UFC 280, Oct. 22.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Damn. UFC 280 is an unbelievable card on paper. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Thanks for reading! See y’all tomorrow.

EXIT POLL

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.