Michael Chandler shares interesting theory as to why Conor McGregor called for their fight to be at 185lbs

Michael Chandler has a theory as to why Conor McGregor called for their fight to be at middleweight.

Chandler and McGregor have been linked to fighting one another for over a year now, but on New Year’s Eve, the Irishman announced on his social media he would be returning on June 29 against Chandler. However, the biggest surprise was McGregor saying the fight would take place at 185lbs, which is of course the middleweight division.

Neither Conor McGregor nor Michael Chandler have ever fought at 185lbs before, and many expected their fight to take place at 170lbs, if not 155lbs. Yet, Chandler thinks that him originally asking for the fight to take place at welterweight, ultimately resulted in McGregor changing the weight class.

“I would definitely fight him at 185 pounds,” Michael Chandler said to TMZ Sports. “If you look at how the whole thing played out, I like to say Conor wouldn’t want it to be at 155 because he wants everybody to believe he’s bigger than he actually is, right? That’s the aura of Conor, bigger than he actually is to build this big mystique, right? It’s tough for him to say 170 because, if you remember, I was the guy who called him out at 170, so, therefore, I’m not the guy who does what he’s told, I’m the guy who got what I wanted, right?

“Just like the opening scene of The Ultimate Fighter, he walked in and said, have I told you what weight it’s gonna be? 185 and that is when the you will do what you are told narrative began. But man, I’m cool with whatever weight,” Chandler continued about McGregor. “The way I see it is Conor and I are within a couple of pounds of each other, so it doesn’t matter if we cut weight all the way to 155, we fight at 170, or we fight at 185. We are the same size guys. I don’t need to bulk up to 200 something pounds to get down to 185lbs, it’s now how I operate during this training camp. So, I’m excited about it if it is 185lbs.”

As of right now, the UFC has yet to confirm Michael Chandler vs. Conor McGregor or the weight the fight will be contested at. With that said, Chandler is confident the two will indeed fight on June 29 and is fine if the bout takes place at 185lbs as the Irishman claims.

Michael Chandler is 23-8 as a pro and hasn’t fought since November of 2022 when he suffered a submission loss to Dustin Poirier. Chandler is 2-3 in the UFC with his two wins coming by knockout against Tony Ferguson and Dan Hooker.