‘Iron’ Michael Chandler reveals there have been some intense moments while filming The Ultimate Fighter opposite Conor McGregor.
The two lightweight sensations will square off inside the Octagon later this year, but first fans will watch the pair work against one another on the promotion’s long-running reality series. Chandler and McGregor are in the midst of filming the 31st season which is expected to air from May to August. Speaking with Oscar Willis of TheMACLife on YouTube, Chandler spoke about the process, revealing that all of it has turned out to be much more work than he originally anticipated.
“The experience has been a lot of fun,” Chandler said. “A lot more work than I ever thought it was going to be. I thought I was going to come here, run some practices, and try to beat Conor in this competition. Turns out, I want all of these guys to win these fights so much more than I want to beat Conor. It’s a lot of work. Pouring into these guys both physically with all the practices and then I’ve got all the interviews. Just the time spent with them, trying to get them to their goal of getting that UFC contract.
“Me and Conor, we’re just competitors. He came here to win. I came here to win. We take this personally. We both want to win so it’s been a few ups and a few downs. It’s been a lot of fun to be here on camera and on microphone nonstop for the last month.”
Conor McGregor shows insane striking in new TUF training footage. Michael Chandler better duck in the coming fight #MMA #UFC pic.twitter.com/udbnzoCjV3
— Vechtsport Info 🇳🇱 🇲🇦 🇧🇪 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@vechtsport_Info) March 1, 2023
Michael Chandler Hopes to Fight Conor McGregor in September or October
Michael Chandler has struggled to get into the win column since debuting with the promotion in 2021. ‘Iron’ stormed into the UFC with a first-round knockout of Dan Hooker at UFC 257 but has since dropped three of his last four. Most fans have been forgiving of that considering Chandler has consistently engaged in some of the most entertaining bouts of the last few years. He plans to continue that trend with Conor McGregor later this year.
“You’re just trying to wade through all of your different emotions throughout this entire thing while you’re also in the presence of the guy you’re going to fight,” Chandler continued. “Who you’re also competing against. Right now you’re competing on a reality show. You’re competing for your fighters, but you know that every single inch that you take is starting the battleground.
“It’s a constant intense scenario. Me and Conor want to win this thing. I want to beat him in every single fight. I want to beat him in the competition. I want to be a better coach than him. I want to be a better everything than him and he wants to be the exact same thing. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s gonna be great TV because Conor and I, we’re here to win a show. We’re here to do what we said we were going to do.”
As far as when Chandler vs. McGregor will go down, ‘Iron’ is hoping for early fall once their season of The Ultimate Fighter wraps up.
“It ends in August, it would make sense for us to fight not too far after that. September, October. It’s been said to be that it should be sometime this fall, but it depends on where Conor is and when he’s ready to come back. Obviously, I want Conor at his biggest and his baddest, and his best. I would like it at 170. It’s well-documented that he wants it at 170. I want him to be 100% healthy.
“I’ve seen him, obviously. Physically moving around and stuff, it looks like his leg has healed which is great to hear. He deserves to come back 100% and we give the world what they deserve and that’s a knockdown drag-out war on pay-per-view later on this year.”
