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Conor McGregor insists he’s able to return to motion, however communication with the UFC has broken down in recent months with no phrase on when he’ll combat once more.
In the meantime, Michael Chandler continues to attend for the combat after he signed to welcome McGregor again to the octagon. He’s made it clear he’s not planning to combat anyone till McGregor returns.
Chandler’s two-year anniversary of inactivity is approaching in November.
UFC welterweight Matt Brown understands why Chandler is ready, as a result of preventing McGregor offers him the prospect to money an enormous paycheck by preventing the largest draw within the historical past of the game. As a lot because the combat would possibly add a number of zeroes to his checking account, Brown cautions Chandler that exterior of the monetary windfall, beating McGregor in 2024 — or each time they really combat — received’t actually imply that a lot within the grand scheme of issues.
“Michael Chandler’s been ready for the crimson panty evening for [two] years,” Brown stated on the most recent episode of The Fighter vs. The Author. “If Conor got here again, fought him and Chandler received, how a lot of a star would that make him? Chandler’s already a fairly good star however I suppose the title energy could be fairly good, fairly strong however would anyone even actually care?
“When Nate [Diaz] did it, it was particular. We thought Conor was the person and Nate did it coming in on what f****** two weeks’ discover? That was superb. But when Chandler did it, I don’t even suppose we’d be impressed. OK, you beat a dude that’s been doing motion pictures and consuming and partying for 3 years.”
It looks like a lifetime in the past when Conor McGregor demolished Eddie Alvarez to develop into the primary ever simultaneous two-division champion within the UFC. Since that evening eight years in the past, the now 35-year-old Irish celebrity has solely competed 4 instances within the UFC, amassing a 1-3 report and struggling a grotesque damaged leg in his earlier outing that stored him sidelined for practically three years.
In some methods, Brown equates Chandler beating McGregor to Jake Paul’s upcoming combat towards former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.
“It would occur with Jake Paul,” Brown stated. “He goes out and beats Mike Tyson, he’s getting that title energy, however you’re beating a f****** 57-year-old man. Get out of right here.”
As a result of McGregor seems to be on the bottom of his profession – his thirty sixth birthday is in July – Brown questions whether or not his title energy alone makes a combat intriguing.
Chandler has wager practically two years of his profession on the truth that beating McGregor nonetheless means rather a lot.
“I feel even when he fights Conor, even when he beats Conor, I simply surprise if it’s going to be the lottery ticket that it might have been a number of years in the past,” Brown stated. “I don’t know. I’m nonetheless studying in the direction of Conor by no means preventing once more.
“When [Conor] says issues like [he’s anxious to return], it offers me a bit of little bit of [hope], not one hundred pc, now it’s like 90 p.c he’s not preventing once more. I don’t know. It’s simply misplaced a lot curiosity. I do know after this film, he comes again and fights, the mainstream would have a variety of curiosity in it. Everyone’s going to observe it however in the event you go beat him it’s like what did you do? I simply don’t really feel like anyone could be that impressed.”
Lots has modified in McGregor’s absence, with a slew of latest fighters rising as prime contenders. So even when he beats Chandler, the trail again to the highest of any division isn’t a straightforward street to journey.
Brown believes McGregor will wrestle to topple most athletes at present within the prime 15 rankings at both light-weight or welterweight, which is the place he’s almost certainly to compete when he returns.
“I might decide [Benoit Saint Denis], I might decide Drew Dober to beat him,” Brown stated. “[Renato] Moicano I feel would beat him straightforward — possibly not straightforward, however I feel it might be a very good matchup for Moicano. Moicano, he’s that man that on the best evening, he may beat anyone within the division. I feel he may very well be a champion on the best evening. He appears to have off nights, too.
“He’s in a killer division. 155 and 170. You’ve received a f****** assassin’s row up there. Even at 170, like Neil Magny would beat him. Neil’s what [ranked] 14 or 15?”
That stated, Brown hopes that McGregor takes his return to motion severely and places his appreciable assets into reworking himself again into the identical fighter who as soon as ranked among the many pound-for-pound greatest within the sport. He’s not betting on that taking place, however there’s a world the place he may see McGregor coming again with a vengeance.
“If Conor takes it critical, Conor will get wholesome, stays off the enjoyable stuff, isn’t consuming or partying or doing no matter he’s placing in his physique and he takes it critical, I feel all this discuss goes out the window,” Brown stated. “He nonetheless has the expertise to beat nearly anyone in these divisions. I simply don’t see him taking it severely.
“We don’t even know what to imagine with what he says. He says every kind of loopy stuff but when he’s nonetheless coaching to some extent, even when out and in, and holding no less than a bit of bit sharp, he’s that man. He may come again and shock all people, look superb, pull off one other Eddie Alvarez second. He’s a f****** athlete. He’s a fantastic fighter, nice eyes, nice reactions, so he may simply shock all people, too. Shock us by even preventing once more within the comeback and look nice. I form of hope that’s what he does, however I don’t suppose he’ll.”
Hearken to new episodes of The Fighter vs. The Author each Tuesday with audio solely variations of the podcast obtainable on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio
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