Michael Chandler exclusive: Paddy Pimblett at International Fight week is ‘more and more intriguing’, latest on Conor McGregor’s return and his readiness ‘to smack Colby Covington in the face’

Speaking to InstantCasino.com, UFC star Michael Chandler opens up on his roadmap for 2024, reveals the advice Donald Trump gave him and encourages Darren Till to return to the UFC.

He also touches on the future of Conor McGregor, his own plans inside the octagon and what’s next for the most exciting fighters in the world right now such as Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev.

Read the full interview below:

What is the latest in the Chandler-McGregor saga?

Michael Chandler: “Conor was Donald Trump’s inauguration, so you can say ‘he doesn’t get you closer to a title’, or you could say, ‘he’s not taking it serious and he’s past his prime at this point’–and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with you in some senses–but he’s the biggest name there is and that’s the fight I want tomorrow if we can make it happen.”

“I’ve lived it for the last two years [waiting for McGregor] but at this point I’m moving on, and I’m going to fight, and I’m going to stay active. And when Conor comes back his road back to the UFC goes through me.”

Is that a promise that’s been made to you? If Conor fights again, it’s you?

MC: “In so many words. The UFC doesn’t really make promises, man, they take care of guys who take care of them, who show up, who puts butts in seats, who really fights hard for them. They know who their guys are that really show up for the brand and for the company. And I’m one of those guys. But promise [to fight McGregor]? There are no promises in this sport. But let’s just say they’re leaning that way at all times because it’s the fight that needs to happen. I’m a huge name. At this point, I’m up there with the upper echelon of those guys. So we had a fight booked. So it’s got to happen at some point.”

What kind of assurances would you need if that fight was booked again? 

MC: “I’m not afraid to take chances in life in general but it’s definitely a gamble if you get booked against Conor. The first time I took the fight he had never pulled out of a fight before. Now he’s got a blemish on that record, so it’s not a risk that the UFC wants to take lightly and it’s not one that I want to take lightly, so I’m going to stay active. I’m going to fight the biggest names I can; fun, intriguing, huge fights, and whenever the chips fall with Conor they do.

Will he fight again this year?

MC: “I wouldn’t be surprised if he fights by the end of the year, [in the] fall, so that gives me time to get a nice big fight in and stay active and put butts in seats and do what I’m contracted to do, which is be a prize fighter for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I think he fights by the end of the year, that would be my guess. If not, it’d be 2026, and I’m still going to be here.”

What is Conor’s public image like in America?

MC: “I’ve heard a lot of people say that people in Ireland don’t like him, I would venture to say maybe people in America like him more than the people in Ireland, right? Because they have less of an emotional connection with him. If he’s your fellow countrymen, and he’s the biggest star in your country, you want him to do good with that stardom. But in America, man, we love controversial figures. We love guys who get in trouble. We love guys who are in the media headlines. But he’s a larger than life figure. He created the notorious Conor Mcgregor brand. But I think it’s a pretty mixed bag. I think most people would like to see me beat him. But there’s certain people here in America that just love Conor and always love Conor, no matter what he does or does not do.”

Is Conor going to fight Logan Paul or not?

MC: “No, he’s not fighting Logan Paul or KSI, that’s all ust rumors, that’s at least what I’ve been told by important people who would be close to the situation, so we’ll see. It’s just he’s just always in the headlines. He’s on a bus today with Logan Paul and Jake Paul, so we’ll see.”

Where are you physically at the moment? What is your timeline on a return?

MC: “I tore up my knee a little bit, tore up the hamstring a little bit, and popped the rib and tore up the thumb–these little ones that don’t need surgery or any kind of crazy repair. I’ve been rehabbing twice a week with a specialist here in town, and been in the 10X red light bed every single day, all kinds of recovery. I’m not ready to commit to a fight right now. But I would say, summer, international fight week makes a lot of sense. At this point you get to a certain level in the sport where you can’t just be thrown on any card. It’s got to be planned out. It’s got to be a big card. So international fight week sounds like a lot of fun because I don’t see myself coming back before May at this point, so.

Who is on your shortlist?

MC: “It sounds like Arman’s going to have to take another fight right? So you got Arman in there now, you got Oliveira–what does he do next? I don’t think I deserve an immediate rematch, but Is he fighting for the title next? Now you have Moicano, who’s fought in a world title fight. His stock has risen.  My name has been thrown out there with Paddy Pimblett over the last couple of months, and a lot of people are excited about that. Beneil Dariush is in there now. I want to fight somebody inside the top ten, that’s always the goal as I’m sitting at number seven. 

“Paddy’s a guy I respect. He respects me. We have exchanged DMs. We hugged it out after the Tony Ferguson win and I said, ‘great job’. And he kind of joked, ‘hey, I couldn’t get the job done like you did’. There’s mutual respect there. But I don’t have to hate somebody to want to go knock their teeth down their throat. He’s the same, so it’s a big fight. It’d be a fun fight,  if his timeline is international fight week that could work out. 

Would you prefer to look up the rankings?

MC: “I want the biggest fights on the biggest stages under the brightest lights, and we’re prize fighters, so we want to make the most amount of money. We’re here to provide for our family, so Paddy checks a lot of those boxes. He’s a big name. He’s a fun fight. We’ll be chirping back and forth. I’m taking a risk because he’s a guy who’s ranked behind me. He gets an opportunity to break into the top ten to fight me, who’s easily head and shoulders the biggest test that he has ever fought. You can’t really compare me to Bobby Green, Tony Ferguson, Jared Gordon and before that Jordan Levitt. He hasn’t stepped up into that top ten yet, and I think it’d be a big test for him, and a little bit of a–i’m not going to say an easy fight–but if you compare him to Oliveira, Gaethje, Poirier, Hooker [there’s no comparison].  It’d be a fun fight, and I got a ton of respect for Paddy, so I do like the fight. I think it’s becoming more and more intriguing, so we’ll see what the UFC brass says.

Pivoting from Conor Mcgregor, the biggest star in the sport to Paddy Pimblett who’s a rising star, is there a psychological pivot for you to make?

MC: “You might talk to a lot of people from a fight perspective that [think] Paddy might be more dangerous than Conor at this point. We haven’t seen Conor in three years. Name wise? Yeah, you’re not gonna get a bigger name than Conor, but when it comes to training for an opponent [like Paddy] it brings me back to the Bellator days. 

“There was somebody who didn’t deserve to beat me, gunning for me every single time I fought. I was a big name. I was the biggest name in Bellator; the most household name, the most world renowned name in Bellator, so that meant every single guy that I fought had the opportunity to beat a guy who was a bigger name or more skilled former world champion.” 

“I’m supposed to beat Paddy Pimblett in a lot of people’s eyes, so that wells up even more motivation in me. He’s a young and hungry guy. He’s got his whole career ahead of him, whereas I’ve been doing this for ten years longer than him, so I like it, man. Whether I’m a 1000-1 underdog or a 1000-1 favourite, I put in all the work necessary to be successful on fight night.”

“I like the idea of fighting Paddy Pimblett and making a ton of money, and it being–I don’t want to say easy fight because I could go out there and slip on a banana peel and get knocked out in front of everybody–but let’s just say I like the fight stylistically. I like Paddy as a human. I think he’s one of the good ones. And with that being said that does not stop me from wanting to separate him from consciousness.”

Paddy has got a penchant for putting on weight between fights, do you think this lifestyle can catch up with you?

MC: “Paddy has always made weight, so I will give him that. But I’ve also given him advice, that man,  I know it feels great to take some time off and eat crappy food and drink alcohol. I don’t know if he smokes or whatever he wants to do between fights because he can. But it’s about doing what you need to do, not what you want to do. We all want to eat crappy food and drink and smoke, and go out and do all the stuff that our flesh desires. But it’s about doing what you need to do.

“You need to look like a professional athlete. You need to carry yourself like a professional athlete and ultimately ballooning up and then coming back down, it’s just really bad for the body. It’s okay to put on a healthy amount of weight just not too much. You don’t need to get into the 200 pounds because you’re not a very big 155-er. You’re a little tall, but you’re pretty slim, and the weight cut shouldn’t be that bad. You should not be getting up over 200.”

What did you make of that footage of Paddy tapping out the fighter in the gym? 

MC: “It’s actually kind of crazy that he did this. I did not see the beef. I didn’t even know there was beef, but I was very surprised that Paddy would go out there and do that, I mean, it takes a certain amount of balls to go out there and fight for free, right? I put my body on the line, but I get paid very handsomely for it. I don’t think you’re going to see me getting in a real fight like that when anything could happen. A headbutt could have fractured an orbital, he could have broke his leg or done something crazy, and then all of a sudden we don’t talk about us fighting at all, but kudos for having the balls to go out there and just squash a beef like a man, but you’re not going to see me doing that anytime soon.”

Are there any similarities between Trump and Dana who are sharing a platform today at the inauguration? 

MC: “I believe he runs the country like a company. He’s not afraid to hurt people’s feelings very similar to how Dana White is. Dana White runs the UFC like that, and it’s a reason I think you see a lot of fighters who are Donald Trump fans, and it has nothing to do with the fact that my boss and Donald Trump are friends. So therefore let me support Donald Trump. I think just the general sentiment of being a sovereign individual who stands on his own two feet confidently, and doesn’t need anything besides an opportunity to further my life. I think that’s the vein in which Donald Trump operates, and that’s the way he wants this country to operate. “

What was it like in Mar-a-lago mixing with Trump? 

MC: “Mar-a-lago was awesome. It was a really really cool, historic place, and I actually saw a private screening of a documentary that came out, called the ‘Man you don’t know’ And essentially, no matter where you stand on Donald Trump, I think there’s no way he’s as bad as the media has portrayed him out to be. I think he puts his foot in his mouth sometimes, I think he says things that we all were like, ‘why’d you say that?’ Yes, he is brash. Yes, he does hurt people’s feelings, but ultimately you judge the character of a man, not the words that he says. And I think peeling back the curtain of who Donald Trump is [in the documentary], and how he’s really helped, a lot of people would really change the idea of who Donald Trump is.”

Did he give you any advice?

MC: “I saw him after my last fight. I walked around the cage, and he gave me a hug. I can’t really give a hug right, because you’re not really supposed to get that close to him. But we got real close and he whispered in my ear, he said, ‘You are one bad mofo’. He didn’t say the actual cuss word. He actually said ‘Mofo’.

“I’ve been around him and he’s a lot more personable than anybody will ever give him credit for. It just feels like you’re hanging out with your cool grandpa every single time I’ve been around him, and I’ve been around him five or six times and I don’t think it’ll be it won’t be the last time that I get to be in his presence. I think in the next four years we’ll find some ways to get together and hopefully play golf with him.”

You were invited to the Inauguration, had you gone, what would have you said to Conor?

MC: “I would just wish him well and shake his hand. Look him in the eyes and say, ‘I have not walked a mile in your shoes, so I will never judge a man whose shoes I have not walked a mile in. Everybody can judge a man from afar, but I don’t live the life that he lives. I don’t have the money that he has. I don’t have the fame that he has. So it’d be very interesting if I did to see how I would respond to it right? So I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I look him in the eyes and I’d wish him well, wish him a speedy recovery. Hopefully, his leg is good at this point, or the pinky toe is good at this point, and it would be an honor to share the octagon with him and finish the Ultimate Fighter 31. 

What about Colby at 170?

MC: “I would love to smack Colby in the face and fight him at some point at 170. But I don’t think that’ll be next. I mean he’s lost to Joaquin Buckley, so I don’t really care what he says to me at all.”

“I love the idea of fighting at 170, that was the biggest let down when Conor pulled out of the fight, the fact that I got an opportunity to fight at 170, and then all of a sudden, I had to cut weight.  There was talk about me fighting in Utah in the October against Oliveira, and I just told the UFC, ‘I’ve been training for a 170 fight for the last year and a half–I’ll make weight because I never miss weight–but I would not have a good performance, so I need to push it to November, and that’s ultimately I fought at Madison Square Garden. But I love the idea of fighting 170. I don’t love making 155, heck, I don’t even like it. I actually hate it.”

Thoughts on fighting Max and Dustin?

MC: “I don’t think a rematch with Dustin will ever happen. He’s only got one or two left, and he’s got a win over me, so I don’t think he’d take the chance of fighting me again, and rightfully so he’s ranked ahead of me. I just lost to Charles. The Max fight interests me a lot, him coming up to 1 55, him having the BMF. Belt. That sounds like a lot of fun, a lot of fun for the Fans, a lot of fun for me and Max, and I think me and Max Holloway will definitely cross paths at some point.”

Is Topuria ready for Islam?

MC: “He has definitely not cleaned out the 145 division whatsoever and we’re talking about Islam going up because he’s got the most title defenses now in lightweight history and surpassed Khabib.  That’s what it looks like to clean out a division.”

“I would love to welcome Topuria to the lightweight division.”

“I will fight Ilia tomorrow in Spain, in a big soccer stadium. I’d be a good, a good entrance to 155 because you got to beat somebody that’s a household name, a guy who’s fought for the title, a guy who’s fought for the number one contender, the guy who’s got a big name. 

Gathje or Hooker?

MC: “I like them both, man, if you don’t like them, you’re not an MMA fan man, we will miss these two when they are gone.  There’s guys in this weight class; myself, Poirier, Gaethje, Hooker–man, just violence.  My heart says Gaethje, but my brain says Hooker. I love to see Hooker having his success because it just further reminds people that that was my UfC debut, and Hooker is a top contender, so my heart, says Gaethje, on that one. But, man, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hooker pulls it out, either.”

Darren Till is now a Misfits fighter, what do you make of that? 

MC: “I always say good on you, go make your money. We are prizefighters, and Darren Till’s a big name. He’s a big personality. But I do think he’s a very, very talented mixed martial artist.

If you think about the caliber of guy who normally goes over and does that, you think of a guy who’s on his way out, or a guy who couldn’t handle it in the UFC, or couldn’t make it in the UFC. Darren Till has I think. I think the grind of what we have to do sometimes makes guys want to go do something easier. Conor versus Logan is case in point, you want to train 12 weeks for a guy like Michael Chandler, with punches, knees, kicks, elbows, submissions, chokes, breaking of the arms, all kinds of different things, who is hungry?  Or you want to take the boxing exhibition match? I’d take the boxing match all day long because it’s a lot easier, and it’s big money, right? But Darren Till still has it and he’s got the gift of the gab. People love him when he speaks on a microphone, and he’s a very talented mixed martial artist, so he’s a guy that I would love to see come back to the UFC as long as you don’t stay out for too long. I’m not saying he’s lazy, but I am saying that it’s easy to take some easy workouts and do easy work, and not throw yourself into the fire and to not keep growing as a combat sports athlete when you’re fighting. Who the heck did he fight, Anthony Taylor? I could wake up tomorrow and come off the couch and knock him out, so you don’t have to train for a tough opponent, so if you do that for too long. I don’t think we get old, I think we get lazy and we get busy, or we start taking the easy way out. If you wait for too long and do that kind of Misfit circuit, you’re going to lose all that, all that talent that you had.”

What about Patricio Pitbull? 

MC: “I don’t really have an interest in that at all. I’ve always been a guy who never looks back. I wish him the best coming to the UFC. But that’s not a name the UFC has thrown at me at all, and it’s definitely not a name I’m really interested in. He’s a 145-er and I’m a 155-er.  I got some big fights at 155 I’d much rather take.”