Major UFC star reveals WWE RAW appearance was last minute decision
A major UFC star has disclosed that his recent appearance on RAW was put together at the last minute. WWE and Ultimate Fighting Championship are now working together as TKO Group Holdings.
The promotion merged with UFC's parent company, Endeavor, to form TKO Group Holdings last September. UFC 298 took place at Honda Center in Anaheim last weekend, and the promotion followed it up with an episode of RAW at the same venue two days later.
UFC star Michael Chander appeared on this past Monday's edition of RAW and called out Conor McGregor. Speaking on the MMA Hour show with Ariel Helwani, Chandler shared that his promo was thrown together at the last minute. The MMA fighter claimed that he was thrown into the fire on the red brand, and magic happened when he called out McGregor.
"Two minutes before, they said, 'Hey, they’re going to put the camera on you.' I said, 'Why don’t you give me that microphone?' They said, 'Hold on, let me run it up the flagpole real quick.' And then about a minute later, they said, 'Hey, you’re going on in a minute and you’re going to get the microphone if you want the microphone,' and then magic happened. Less than five minutes [of notice]. There was nothing prepared. Nothing. I was thrown into the fire. Smacked myself a couple of times and then we went.” [H/T: MMA]
You can check out the full interview in the video below:
Bill Apter praises Michael Chandler's appearance on WWE RAW
Legendary wrestling journalist Bill Apter was a fan of Michael Chandler calling out Conor McGregor on the red brand.
Speaking on Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine podcast, Apter noted that this was TKO Group Holding's first shot at cross-promoting their two products. He added it was a brilliant idea because it could have resulted in some WWE fans deciding to check out UFC.
"Regarding the UFC thing, it was great because TKO, this is their first shot at cross-promoting their two products, and making it very visible. So there's a lot of people who may not watch UFC, who might now out of curiosity say, 'Man, this guy is furious. I wanna take a look at him.'... Brilliant idea." [From 01:21 onwards]
You can check out the video below:
WWE is currently on the road to WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia. Only time will tell if the promotion has any more surprises in store for fans ahead of the biggest show of the year.
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