Michael Chandler isn’t ready to give up on his dream of fighting Conor McGregor at the White House just yet.
Chandler (23-10 MMA, 2-5 UFC) and McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) have been entangled in one of the longest will-they-or-won’t-they sagas in recent UFC history ever since coaching opposite each other on Season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter three years ago.
Both fighters have expressed a desire to face one another if the UFC hosts an event at the White House later this year, but UFC President Dana White poured cold water on the idea earlier this week, insisting he no longer has any interest in booking that matchup.
“My reaction is ‘we will see.’ We'll see how this whole thing plays out,” Chandler told Ariel Helwani on Wednesday. “Obviously, nobody has any idea what the fights are going to be on the White House card. Is that 100% how it's going to be? Me and Conor not fighting at the White House? I don't know.
“Obviously, it's not encouraging. It's not great to hear. But I've also heard many things that were not encouraging that turned out to be not true. We just keep on going, man, until the fights get announced, until Conor McGregor gets announced his next opponent. Until then, man, all we can do is just hope and pray and kind of see what happens.”
Former two-division UFC champion McGregor has not stepped into the Octagon in nearly five years, dating back to his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. He was scheduled to face Chandler in the main event of UFC 303 in 2024, but withdrew from the fight just weeks out due to a toe injury.
Chandler remained inactive for more than two years while waiting for a bout with McGregor, before returning late in 2024 and suffering losses to both Charles Oliveira and Paddy Pimblett.
“It's a fight that just makes sense,” the former Bellator champion said. “So much sense. It's an explosive fight, and it's an exciting fight. I think I'm his top choice. He's my top choice. That's the fight that we want, but it remains to be seen.
“I don't have a plan B. I don't have a plan B until plan A is 100% exhausted. That's kind of where we're at right now. That's the plan, fighting at the White House, fighting Conor at the White House. Until that train gets completely derailed, and the only way it's going to get derailed is him getting announced against somebody else at the White House.”
