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TMZSports.com
The contract isn’t yet signed, but Michael Chandler says he’s fighting Conor McGregor on June 29 in Las Vegas … and he’s totally cool with the scrap going down at 185 lbs!
37-year-old Chandler joined Babcock on the “TMZ Sports” TV show (airs weekdays on FS1) … where he broke his silence on the highly anticipated fight, days after The Notorious broke the news on social media.
“The last year has been a nice little hiatus and it looks like we’re finally gonna be getting this fight moving forward,” Chandler said.
“Now it looks like we got ourselves a date, we got ourselves an opponent, and seemingly a weight class a little bit above what we thought it was gonna be!” … Mike added with a big smile.
Of course, Chandler’s referring to the fight going down at 185 pounds — technically a middleweight fight — a full 30 pounds over the lightweight limit where both men have been two of the best in the world.
FYI, Sean Strickland (6’1″), Israel Adesanya (6’4″), and Alex Pereira (6’4″) are the last three MW champs … and those guys are huge.
We asked him about fighting at a much heavier weight.
“I’m cool with whatever weight. The way I see it, Conor and I are within a couple of pounds of each other. So it doesn’t matter if we cut weight all the way down to 155, we fight at 170, or we fight at 185.”
“We’re the same size guys. I don’t need to bulk up to 200-something fans to get down to 185, it’s just not how I would operate in this training camp. So I’m excited about it if it is 185.”
Fans are excited, too.
After all, it’s a fight that’s been in the works forever … since Mike and Conor served as coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter.”
There’s a bunch more with Chandler … including whether he’ll return to the lightweight division after the Conor fight.
We also asked him if he was concerned Conor was clean … as many people have speculated 35-year-old McGregor might be taking something to bulk up (the former champ-champ has never failed a drug test).
Check out the clip!