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Topics: UFC, MMA, Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler, Donald Trump
John McDougall
Topics: UFC, MMA, Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler, Donald Trump
Michael Chandler has laid down the gauntlet to Conor McGregor and raised the idea of fighting the Notorious at next year's UFC White House event for a new belt.
The 37-year-old is one of the biggest names associated with the UFC but has not fought in the Octagon since 2021.
McGregor's MMA record stands at 22 wins from 28 bouts, with 19 of those victories coming by knockout as the Irishman established himself as one of the UFC's most exciting and charismatic fighters.
But McGregor has three defeats in his last four outings in MMA, with losses against Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018 followed by victory over Donald Cerrone in January 2020.
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But McGregor's last two fights - both against Dustin Poirier - ended in defeat for him, the most recent one being in July 2021.
The Notorious had been due to make his long awaited return to the Octagon last year against Chandler at UFC 303, but it was cancelled after McGregor suffered a broken toe.
It remains to be seen if and when McGregor will ever fight back in the Octagon again, but one potential event he could feature at is next year's UFC White House event.
The South Lawn is due to host its first ever professional sporting event in the middle of June 2026 to help commemorate the United States' 250th anniversary.
And Chandler has come up with the idea of fighting McGregor for a new one-off belt at the event, even envisaging having his hand raised following victory by US President Donald Trump.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, Chandler said: "We would definitely have to go out there, dot our i's, cross our t's, and not just beat Conor but dominate him and systematically and surgically break the man down and then be able to be draped in the stars and bars and get my hand raised right there on the White House lawn.
"I've dreamt about it, I have visualised it ever since this announcement was made that we were going to be doing this fight on the White House lawn. I believe it's going to come to fruition, we'll see.
"There's almost nothing that is impossible. This sounded impossible just six months ago, to do a fight at the White House and now you get it set.
"The amount of things that are on the table - nothing is off the table. That would actually be really cool, Donald Trump coming in and raising my arm, to get a win for America on it's birthday and that would be cool.
"There's no belt on the line, but then again, maybe they'll come out with a White House belt or something cool for this momentous occasion that we can throw on our shelves in our offices - that would absolutely be a blast.
"Even if that did not happen, just the opportunity to fight in front of our President again, to fight at the White House, would be an absolute dream come true and having it on network television for the entire country to see seems like the perfect scenario."