Adesanya Says Chandler Is the Only Fight For Conor

Israel Adesanya has a straightforward answer for what Conor McGregor should do next, assuming the knee heals and the will to return survives UFC 329.

"I say, if he does decide to come back later on, Chandler would be the only fight that makes sense. He kind of owes Chandler that fight,” Adesanya

Michael Chandler coached opposite McGregor on Season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter, a commitment that required him to be available and active for the duration of filming. They were booked to headline UFC 303 in June 2024. McGregor broke his toe in sparring weeks before the fight and pulled out. Chandler waited. Then he waited some more. By the time it became clear that UFC 303 was not happening with McGregor on it, Chandler had gone roughly two years without competing — a stretch of enforced inactivity that no fighter can afford and that Chandler absorbed entirely because of McGregor's circumstances.

McGregor's last two competitive results before Saturday night's injury were both losses to Dustin Poirier — a second-round knockout at UFC 257 in January 2021, then the leg break in their trilogy at UFC 264 that July. He has not won a fight since knocking out Donald Cerrone in forty seconds in 2020.

Whether McGregor agrees with Adesanya's reasoning is not yet clear. He has vowed to return and has not named a specific opponent since. The Holloway trilogy is also on the table, having been called for by Holloway himself in the octagon.