UFC 303 News: Michael Chandler Wants New UFC Title for Conor McGregor Fight
"Iron" wants to raise the stakes for one of the biggest fights of the year,
Michael Chandler would love for there to be UFC gold on the line when he and Conor McGregor finally meet in the Octagon this summer.
After months of waiting that caused some fans to question if the fight would ever even happen, UFC CEO Dana White officially announced after UFC 300 that McGregor and Chandler will headline UFC 303 on June 29.
“The Notorious” previously got the rumor mill churning with an unexpected claim that his return to the UFC would be at middleweight, but in a recent interview Chandler said he’d like to see the UFC finally create a long-rumored 165-pound title for the huge matchup.
Chandler previously fought Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight title.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
“Man, I would not be surprised if all of a sudden that bout agreement comes over and it says ‘for the 165 title,’” Chandler told TheMacLife. “You never know. Because the UFC has to keep a lot of things secret, even to us, right? You saw Conor broke the announcement again before the UFC did it…It should be for a belt, but we’ll see if we can’t make one up.”
McGregor famously put out a video on New Year’s Eve announcing that he’d be fighting Chandler on June 29 before that claim was disputed by White, and prior to the UFC CEO’s announcement after UFC 300 it looked as if the Irishman might not be back in action until the fall.
White wasn’t the only person that mentioned McGregor’s name after UFC 300, as newly-crowned BMF champion Max Holloway suggested he’d be open to a rematch with his former opponent and unsurprisingly drew a response from the former two-division champion on social media.
As tempting as it may be to consider how McGregor and Holloway match up more than ten years after their first meeting, for now fans will have to keep their fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong ahead of UFC 303 to prevent “The Notorious” from competing for the first time in nearly three years.
McGregor is still the biggest star in UFC history regardless of his recent inactivity, and it would be no surprise if the promotion did elect to create a new belt for his return fight or considering giving him a shot at the BMF title if he’s able to get past Chandler on June 29.
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