Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor is as famous for his trash talk and mind games as he is for his exploits in the Octagon. Michael Chandler, coaching opposite McGregor in this season of The Ultimate Fighter, however, feels like the pair get along. That is, at least, “for a guy whose face you want to rip off.”
“It’s been all over the internet, obviously you guys saw the push, the shove, the face shove heard around the world, saw around the world, and the ‘You’ll do what you’re told’ line that Conor has already put out.
Michael Chandler Reveals Relationship With UFC Rival Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor and I, I think, have a pretty good relationship. As good of a relationship as you can for a guy whose face you want to rip off. He is a tough competitor.
He is a guy who is confident and believes in himself more than anybody that you may see out there. That’s how he carries himself, that is his brand, that is ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor, that is his full-on persona.”
Chandler continued. “So ultimately, he looks at me as a threat because we’re going to fight each other. He looks at me as a threat on this show, he doesn’t want to lose, he wants Team McGregor to win. He’s got his guys that he has built bonds with. Maybe I beat one of his guys, what does that well up inside of him?
What kind of anger does that well up inside of him? Maybe his guy beats my guy. What kind of pride and braggadocious confidence and really throw salt in the wound does that well up inside Conor, because Conor’s good at all of that stuff?”
Chandler also had a prediction for the result of their clash: he’s going to knock out “The Notorious” inside two rounds. “We’ve also said where we are very bold in our prediction. He believes that he’s going to slice right through me. He believes that he’s a little bit too spicy, a little bit too dicey.
I said I’m going to bludgeon him with my hands. I think my Mystic Mike prediction is that I knock him out in the second round. I go out there, I get in his face, I put the foot on the gas early as I always do. I believe I wear him down in the first and he wilts and I knock him out in the second.”
