"I never really doubted it" - Michael Chandler talks about his long awaited upcoming fight with Conor McGregor
Michael Chandler recently opened up about his upcoming bout against Conor McGregor after it was finally made official for UFC 303.
After months of speculation, Dana White officially announced that the Irishman will be making his long awaited return to the octagon during the promotion's annual International Fight Week event, which is scheduled to take place at T-Mobile Arena on June 29. The bout will be contested at 170-pounds, which is the exact weight that 'Iron' initially called 'The Notorious' out for.
The former Bellator lightweight champion uploaded a video to his Instagram account and noted that he never doubted that the fight would take place. 'Iron' mentioned that he ensured that there were plenty of assurances when he agreed to coach opposite McGregor on 'The Ultimate Fighter'. He said:
"I never really doubted it as much as you guys did. I had a lot more reassurances behind-the-scenes than you guys know about. I just knew it was gonna take time. And I preach exactly what I had to go through and I had my moments that I didn't do so well with it, but the hard work eventually pays off, you just have to still be standing there when it does."
It will be interesting to see what the buildup will be like as McGregor will definitely look to get under Chandler's skin with his trash talk ahead of UFC 303.
How did Dana White announce Michael Chandler vs. Conor McGregor?
Dana White used a different method when announcing the highly anticipated bout between Michael Chandler and Conor McGregor.
During the UFC 300 post-fight press conference, White received a sheet of paper that included a list of upcoming bouts and read them to the media that was present. Among the bouts announced included Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier and Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa for UFC 302, and Chandler vs. McGregor for UFC 303.
Fans were surprised as many believed that a video package would be shown during the UFC 300 broadcast, but White decided to wait until the post-fight press conference to make the announcement. This wasn't the first time he announced fights during a press conference as he had also announced the card for UFC 299 during a post-fight press conference last December.