michael chandler wants to make one thing clear: Your spirit is not broken by Conor McGregor taking from UFC 303 main event and the uncertainty that follows.
After waiting almost 18 months between fights to be the opponent of McGregor’s (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) long-awaited return to the Octagon, the opportunity was seized by Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) at with less than three weeks notice when the former two-division champion withdrew from the June 29 card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas due to injury.
There was a period of several days where the status of the competition was up in the air, but then official word came that it wouldn’t happen, and Chandler revealed that he arrived minutes after his last difficult sparring session.
“I had the rug pulled out from under me at the last possible moment,” Chandler said in a lengthy Instagram video. “I just finished my last sparring session on Thursday morning. I’ve been hearing rumors since Monday, obviously, but I got the call about an hour after my last sparring session was complete. An hour after a celebration.
“Anyone who has trained for a fight or trained for something, you go through a very difficult block and then to reach the peak you reach the end you no longer try to throw yourself into the fire and take the chance of injuries, excess training, bumps, bruises, cuts and all these different things. I was just done with it.
There was some discussion that the announcement of McGregor vs. Chandler’s departure from UFC 303 would come with news of a new date. However, that was not the case. UFC CEO Dana White has said he won’t talk about a rescheduling until informed of McGregor’s full recovery, but MMA journalist Ariel Helwani reported that August or September could be in play, although the promotion is having trouble identifying a viable date.
Chandler admits there’s a lot of uncertainty, but he doesn’t want anyone’s sympathy. He is a man of faith and unbreakable self-confidence, and will continue to follow this path in life regardless of the obstacles that come his way.
“So what do I do now? A little uncertainty in my life,” Chandler said. “When will this fight happen? What date would it be rescheduled? What place? How bad is the injury? There have been reports that it’s not that bad, it just needs a little delay. But still, there are no guarantees. But I thrive when there are no guarantees. Just a kid from High Ridge, Missouri, who continued to chart a forward trajectory no matter what the opposition, no matter what the circumstances, no matter the situation. It’s not up to me to wish the results exist. It’s up to me to do the work. We let the work do the talking. We do the work. And we do the work until we become undeniable.
“Don’t you dare disrespect me by feeling sorry for me. Don’t you dare disrespect me by having any kind of sympathy. Be encouraged by my situation. Be encouraged by my steadfastness and immobility to hitch my dreams to a shooting star and keep moving forward. If you’ve been on this journey with me for a long time, you know how I roll. You know where my mentality is, where my mentality is. And it’s not even close to trash. I am encouraged by this test, and this test is not yet complete. And this test will become part of my testimony. Therefore, we continue to press forward in the face of adversity, with complete disregard for past failures, past setbacks, past things out of control, and future opposition.”
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie events hub to UFC 303.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25569760/1973132220.jpg?w=300&resize=300,300&ssl=1 "A controversial experiment to artificially cool the Earth was canceled – what we know about why")
