Michael Chandler Says He’d Fight Rory MacDonald At Welterweight

Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler’s immediate future looks like it could get very interesting. We know that he’ll be taking on former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson on November 19. Should he pass that test, Chandler can then look forward to a scrap with another UFC veteran in Josh Thompson, and perhaps even to a scrap with former Bellator featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.

Yet on his Monday appearance on The MMA Hour, Chandler explained to host Ariel Helwani that his big-ticket possibilities don’t end there either. Instead, he said he’d be interested in a possible move up to 170lbs to fight recent Bellator signee Rory MacDonald.

When discussing MacDonald’s arrival to Bellator, the lightweight champ had this say:

“The good thing for me is, I think that that’s a fight I could have in my future. I would definitely step up to 170 and make that fight [with MacDonald] happen. I want the biggest fights that Bellator has to offer. I think that’s Benson Henderson next, then I still have unfinished business with Josh Thomson, and I’m sitting at 190lbs, so I wouldn’t be too tiny of a welterweight, whether it be for the belt or not for the belt. I want big fights and I want fights that fans are going to put their eyeballs on.”

Whether Chandler’s stepping up a weight class to take on a massive welterweight in Rory MacDonald is a good idea is difficult to say, but we certainly have to commend him on his cojones.

If the lightweight champ were to fight MacDonald, how do you think it would go? Let us know in the comments below!