Dana White has made a shock announcement that Michael Chandler is no longer waiting on the sidelines in the hopes of fighting Conor McGregor and instead has agreed to a rematch against Charles Oliveira in the co-main event of UFC 309 in New York City on November 16th instead.
White casually dropped the bombshell during an interview with Robbie Fox on the ‘My Mom’s Basement’ show.
“Chandler said ‘I’m done waiting, I wanna fight,'” White revealed.
It wasn’t clear at that stage who Chandler was fighting, but Fox later posted an update revealing that it would be Oliveira, while clarifying that the McGregor vs. Chandler fight may still happen next year.
“I just got off the phone with Dana White and we’ve got an issue, a quick correction on the breaking news that Conor McGregor will not fight Michael Chandler in his UFC return,” Fox said in a video on X.
“Dana said there was a misunderstanding in our exchange. That fight still may happen but Michael Chandler is taking a fight first. He is getting a fight first and it will be against Charles Oliveira in a five-round co-main event at Madison Square Garden.
“The Conor fight still may happen in the future but Michael Chandler is taking that fight first. We will see what happens with Conor, he’s not going to be back until 2025.”
The 38-year-old Chandler will be looking for payback in his newly booked fight as he previously went up against Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title back at UFC 262 in 2021 and lost by TKO in the second round.
CORRECTION: I just got off the phone with Dana White, and there was a slight misunderstanding here. Michael Chandler may still fight Conor in his return next year, but he’s taking another fight first…. https://t.co/HanYNbDN7p pic.twitter.com/zh8CqD6QGu
— Robbie Fox (@RobbieBarstool) September 14, 2024
White also revealed during the interview that the full main card for UFC 309 will be announced during tonight’s UFC 306 event. White stayed quiet on who will main event the card, but it’s been strongly rumored for some time that heavyweight champion Jon Jones is likely to front the show against Stipe Miocic.
