Michael Chandler admits career ‘Death sentence’ worry ahead of UFC 303 fight with Conor McGregor
Michael Chandler says his layoff is a concern as it could be a career death sentence for him.
Chandler will finally end his layoff in the main event of UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas, Nevada against Conor McGregor. It’s a highly-anticipated fight and one that has been talked about for over a year, as he last competed in November of 2022.
Chandler and McGregor coached TUF against one another last year and the hope was the fight would happen then. But, it didn’t come to fruition, and Chandler continued to wait for the scrap, which he admits could hurt him.
Michael Chandler admits hiatus brings worry into UFC 303 return
“I went 688 days without winning a fight, almost two full years without winning a fight. For a mixed martial artist, this could be a career death sentence. That’s when the doubt from everybody plus yourself continues to compound on itself,” Michael Chandler said on The Shawn Ryan Show (via GiveMeSport).
Ring rust has been a factor for several fighters, but Chandler is doing everything he can to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Michael Chander hired a sports psychologist ahead of His return
During the time off, Michael Chandler has revealed he hired a sports psychologist to try and help him out mentally ahead of his return.
Chandler believes the mental game is as important as the physical part, so he’s confident it will help him put together a great performance against McGregor.
“I hired a sports psychologist. I really started realizing I can do all the reps and all the sets and all the push-ups and all the lifts and all the sparring and all the sessions. I can do all the physical stuff, but if I’m not building up the mind, I’m really just making a bigger, faster, stronger more dangerous subpar version of the man that I’m supposed to be if I don’t start doing the work inside my mind,” Chandler added.
Chandler enters his UFC 303 main event fight as a -108 pick’em against Conor McGregor who is -112.
