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Michael Chandler has been out of action for almost two years, having last fought Dustin Poirier in November 2022. Outside of TUF 31, he’s spent most of this time waiting for Conor McGregor, but after the upheaval around UFC 303, he finally moved on to fight Charles Oliveira at UFC 309.

Following his razor-close split decision loss to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300, Oliveira is currently the #2 ranked UFC lightweight in the world. So, defeating him should put Chandler in line for a title shot.

Chandler fought frequently in the UFC since his debut against Dan Hooker. It appears he wants to compensate for the two-year hiatus by fighting as many high-profile names as possible before 2025.

Chandler recently appeared on the SHAK MMA YouTube channel for an interview. When asked if he would fight McGregor or Makhachev after a win over Oliveira, “Iron” stated that getting the UFC lightweight title is his priority. He also feels the need to settle the rivalry with “The Notorious” which began with TUF 31.

“The title is the number one goal but there is some unfinished business. Chandler vs. McGregor TUF 31, it needs, that chapter needs to close to some point. Conor wants that fight. He’s talked about it openly in public, in interviews. Obviously, I want that fight. I’m not focused on it right now. I’m focused on Charles, but it’ll be interesting you know. Because you also got to remember, Islam is fighting probably in January, could be late January. He’s gonna go into Ramadan in February, all of March, won’t be able to go till training camp, won’t be able to fight till June July. I’m not trying to wait till June or July. So, Conor could sneak in there, we could see Chandler vs. Oliveira, Chandler vs. Conor, Chandler vs. Islam, Chandler vs. Max. The craziest four or five fight-run in a 12-month period that anyone’s ever seen.”

Besides Makhachev and McGregor, “Iron” is also interested in fighting former UFC featherweight champion and the reigning BMF champion Max Holloway in 2025. Fans have been eagerly waiting to see this fight too, as both fighters boast an aggressive, fearless, and striking-heavy fighting style.

It’ll be interesting to see how many superfights Chandler can be a part of before the end of 2025. For now, he needs to focus on beating Oliveira, who already holds a TKO win over him.

• READ MORE: Dana White & Jon Jones Share Contradictory Answers On If Aspinall Fight Will Happen After UFC 309

Continue Reading Michael Chandler Targets ‘Craziest’ Fight Run Against Makhachev, Holloway & McGregor at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The UFC Vegas 100 weigh-in video features 24 fighters stepping on the scale Friday morning in Las Vegas. Watch a live stream of the official weigh-ins above courtesy of Ag. Fight.

In the main event, Neil Magny and Carlos Prates have to hit the welterweight limit of 171 pounds for the non-title fight. Magny seeks to extend his record for the most wins by a welterweight in UFC history, with his number currently standing at 22.

Prates can complete a spectacular 2024 campaign that already includes three wins this year. He has finished all of his opponents during that stretch, with each performance earning him a $ 50,000 bonus.

Ricky Turcios and Benardo Sopaj have to hit the 136-pound limit for the non-title bantamweight fight in the penultimate bout of the evening.

The UFC Vegas 100 official weigh-in video begins at 12 p.m. ET.

Check out UFC Vegas 100 weigh-in results below.

Main Card (ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET)

Neil Magny vs. Carlos Prates

Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopaj

Gerald Meerschaert vs. Reinier de Ridder

Luana Pinheiro vs. Gillian Robertson

Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Dusko Todorovic

Preliminary Card (ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET)

Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Denise Gomes

Gaston Bolanos vs. Cortavious Romious

Elizeu Zaleski vs. Zach Scroggin

Matthew Semelsberger vs. Charlie Radtke

Cody Stamann vs. Da’Mon Blackshear

Tresean Gore vs. Antonio Trocoli

Melissa Mullins vs. Klaudia Sygula

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has all the respect in the world for light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira, but if the UFC were to book a matchup between the two titleholders, du Plessis can see a real world where he stops Pereira with strikes.

“If I’m talking about just the standup exchanges—I’m not fighting a kickboxing fight, I’m fighting an MMA fight,” du Plessis told Submission Radio. “And in a kickboxing fight, You need to be able to land combos, you need to land massive punches the whole time, get a guy rocked, you get an eight count, you have all those variables. Where in MMA, I don’t care who you are. If I catch you clean with those small gloves, you’re going to go down and I am going to catch you eventually.”

Du Plessis captured the middleweight title with a decision win over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 this past January, and then stopped Israel Adesanya in his first title defense at UFC 305 the following August. At light heavyweight, Pereira has put together a Fighter of the Year campaign with knockout wins over Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka, and Khalil Rountree.

The South African champion understands he has his work cut out for him, but after watching Pereira’s win over Rountree, du Plessis saw some things he could capitalize on.

“Now, I said it with with Izzy—he said, I’m too slow, I wouldn’t be able to catch him. Well, yeah,” du Plessis said. “I made a post recently saying maybe it’s not pretty, but damn, it’s effective because I will catch you eventually. And then it’s then it’s a whole different story because I’m not engaging in a kickboxing fight. I’m punching and I’m kicking, but it’s not a kickboxing fight. It’s an MMA fight, and when I put those together, it’s a different fight.

“So I honestly believe that with a guy like Alex Pereira, he has power. I have a lot of power too. The man is… yeah [he has] crisp striking. His striking is incredible. That’s why he has the kickboxing résumé. … But we saw with [the] Khalil Rountree fight, we saw a lot of things that [Rountree had] a lot of success [with] in those first two rounds. He really did.”

Watch du Plessis’ interview with Submission Radio below.

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Pound-for-pound
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Sorry, Tom Aspinall, you’re not getting “Bones.”

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Jon Jones makes his long-awaited return to the octagon at UFC 309 next weekend (Sat., Nov. 16, 2024) against former Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic from inside the most iconic arena in the world, Madison Square Garden in New York City.

While Jones has Miocic in front of him next week, it seems like the entire mixed martial arts (MMA) world wants to know if “Bones” will fight the current interim Heavyweight champion, Aspinall.

Well, we finally have an answer (that everyone already knew): Probably not.

“More than likely not,” Jones told Kevin Iole when asked if he would fight Aspinall if victorious at UFC 309. “I feel like Tom Aspinall is, I don’t want to say nobody, but he just hasn’t proven anything. He hasn’t done anything. I understand he won his belt against Sergei [Pavlovich], and Sergei just got slaughtered by someone else, so it’s like, I’m not here to gamble someone else making a name off of me. I’m here to compete against the guys where when we look back, you know, 10 years from now, you’ll be like, ‘Jon Jones fought this guy and that guy, this legend, and that champion and this champion.”

Aspinall has indeed proven himself against half of the current Top 10 Heavyweights. In fact, he has finished three of the top five fighters in the 265 lb division, with Ciryl Gane being the only one he hasn’t faced yet.

If Jones does continue to fight after UFC 309 instead of retiring, the current UFC Light Heavyweight champion is the only fighter who interests him.

“If there were to be a fight of a guy that’s still on our UFC roster, that would be not only financially worth it but also legacy worth it- it would be Alex Pereira,” Jones said. “We’re both 37 years old. Right now, I weigh about 235. I’m an incredibly light Heavyweight. I think Pereira walks around at 240. I think that fight would go much farther on my legacy than a young man who’s cool today and may be gone tomorrow.

A fight between Jones and Alex Pereira would undoubtedly be absolutely massive, especially for the casual audience, but a fight with Aspinall would be equally as big—if promoted correctly.

It looks like poor Aspinall will miss fighting the best fighter ever.

Bummer.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

If Jon Jones sticks around beyond his upcoming matchup against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, then he’s got designs on a potential fight against a reigning champion but not the one you might think.

With rumors of retirement swirling around his return on Nov. 16, the now 37-year-old heavyweight champion doesn’t have anything left to prove when it comes to his accomplishments in the sport. That’s why Jones isn’t interested in just fighting anybody at this stage of his career but there is a certain Brazilian knockout artist who’s captured his attention lately.

“If there were to be a fight of a guy that’s still on our UFC roster that would be not only financially worth it but legacy worth it, it would be Alex Pereira,” Jones told Kevin Iole ahead of UFC 309. “Alex Pereira and I, we’re both 37 years old. Right now I weigh about 235 [pounds]. I’m an incredibly light heavyweight. I think Pereira walks around at 240.

“I think that fight would go much farther on my legacy than a young man who’s cool today and maybe gone tomorrow.”

In his short time since joining the UFC roster, Pereira already claimed titles across two different weight classes and he’s scored wins over five former UFC champions. He’s currently riding a five-fight win streak with four knockouts along the way while becoming arguably one of the biggest stars in teh sport.

Meanwhile, the “young man” in question is UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, who is expected to be in attendance at Madison Square Garden in New York when Jones defends his belt against Miocic in the main event.

Aspinall has asked numerous times for the chance to face Jones since defeating Sergei Pavlovich to claim the interim title but his calls have largely fallen on deaf ears.

While he’s said recently that he hopes that the winner in the UFC 309 main event sticks around long enough to unify the titles, Aspinall probably won’t be thrilled to hear what Jones had to say about that potential matchup.

“More than likely not [fighting Tom Aspinall],” Jones revealed. “I feel like Tom Aspinall is, I don’t want to say nobody, but he just hasn’t proven anything. He hasn’t done anything. I understand that he won his belt against Sergei [Pavlovich]. Sergei just got slaughtered by [Alexander Volkov]. I’m not here to gamble someone else making a name off of me.

“I’m here to compete against the guys when we look back 10 years from now like ‘Jon Jones fought this guy and that guy and this legend and this champion and this champion.’”

As impressive as Aspinall has been during his UFC campaign with an 8-1 record overall and all of his wins coming by knockout or submission inside the first two rounds, Jones just doesn’t see a big enough body of work to make it worth his time to seek out that fight.

Throughout his 16-year UFC career, Jones has witnessed plenty of highly touted prospects come and go and he’s just not interested in sticking around to face the next big thing.

“I remember a time when the whole world thought Johnny Walker was going to be the guy to beat me,” Jones said. “No disrespect for Johnny Walker but we’ve all see the way his career has played out.

“I’ve just been here too long to get all excited about someone who’s hot today. I’m here for legacy. I’ve been gambling for too long to just take random fights.”

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