Chael Sonnen: Nate Diaz could bump Michael Chandler from Conor McGregor fight — and Chandler knows it

Chael Sonnen has a hunch about Michael Chandler.

Over the past few weeks, Chandler has been quite active on social media in regards to his previously scheduled bout with McGregor, which was set for the main event of UFC 303 this past month before the former two-division champ was sidelined with a toe injury. Chandler teased that he’s being offered a lightweight title fight with Islam Makhachev, that the McGregor fight could be re-booked for UFC 306 at Sphere, and even called out Nate Diaz for a fight following the Stockton star’s boxing win against Jorge Masvidal.

Sonnen, who has played the mental game as well as anyone in MMA history of the sport, gave his thoughts on the situation.

“So what is it that Michael Chandler knows? What is it that I think I know Chandler knows, whether we’re both wrong or not?” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I think he knows, and I think what he sees is the big problem, is that there is a chance he gets bumped [from the McGregor fight] for Diaz-McGregor. Chandler believes their history, that trilogy, the potential conclusion of two iconic careers, if you could get both of those guys to agree, this is it. And you could even get the UFC to say, ‘This is it,’ [which] not for nothing, it’s a very big match.

“So Chandler, the way that he sees it, could stay after McGregor, and make sure that his case — which is the hotter of the two cases right now — stays, and that flame stays. But he’s well enough to know that if Diaz starts calling out McGregor, and McGregor starts liking that callout, he knows that could hurt him.”

Sonnen was recently inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame for his first fight with career rival Anderson Silva, and after spending the most successful part of his career in the company, he understands how business is done.

When Chandler says he was offered a title fight with Makhachev, Sonnen feels that if the statement is true, than UFC has upheld their end of the bargain with Chandler — McGregor fight or not.

“The UFC, as soon as they offered him a world title fight, has now honored that deal. Do you understand that?” Sonnen explained. “You’ve got to understand that. ... When the deal was, ‘We will give you McGregor, then we offer you something higher than McGregor,’ that deal is now satisfied. If I owe you $100 and I come in and offer you $1,000, it doesn’t matter if you take the $1,000 or you say no to it, I now don’t owe you $100. I tried to pay it.

“The moment he was offered Islam, that promise no longer stands. It might happen. You might make the most compelling case, you might get the fight, but my promise to you that you will get it is gone. Do you get that? I think that you get that. But whether you do or don’t, Chandler gets it and he’s the one that needs to get it.”

Chandler hasn’t fought since getting submitted by Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 in November 2022, while McGregor has now been out more than three years after suffering a brutal leg injury in a stoppage loss to Poirier nearly 18 months before that.

Breaking down Chandler’s recent social media antics, Sonnen believes Chandler has made some savvy moves, most notably with his callout of Diaz.

“Chandler saw himself in a potential battle for Conor’s attention, or Nate having Conor’s attention,” Sonnen said. “To get in front of it, he called out Nate. That was a smart move. That was a really smart move.

“I don’t know if I’ve uncovered it or not, but the only thing I’m completely sure of, is Michael Chandler — when he called out Nate Diaz for the Sphere — was working a different angle, and did not mean he wants to fight Nate Diaz at the Sphere. That I’m sure of.”