Claim: Michael Chandler has reportedly withdrawn from the UFC White House card to serve as the backup fighter for Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway at UFC 329.
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A wild rumor began to circulate online after MMACentel reported that Michael Chandler had withdrawn from the UFC’s planned White House event in order to serve as the backup fighter for Conor McGregor‘s long-awaited comeback fight against Max Holloway.
The post instantly got fans talking because, honestly, it sounded chaotic enough to be believable. After all, ‘The Notorious’ is finally back after a long absence, and Chandler has been tied to him forever at this point. And the UFC White House card is already sounding like something out of a movie; you just cannot rule anything out.
But once you actually look into it, the whole thing falls apart pretty quickly.
Our Verdict: False
The biggest issue here is the source itself. MMACentel is a parody/troll account. The page is well-known for posting bogus MMA news, made-up statements, troll fight announcements, and ridiculous stories to bait reactions from fans online. Even their own bio clearly defines the account as satire/parody.
Breaking🚨: Michael Chandler has reportedly pulled out of the White House card to serve as the backup fighter for Max Holloway vs. Conor McGregor. (Via @ESBNetworks)
So unless one wants to believe their other claims, such as Khamzat Chimaev struggling to hold his poop in during his UFC 328 main event versus Sean Strickland, the page is definitely not a news source to be taken seriously.
On top of that, absolutely nobody credible has backed up the claim. Not the UFC, not Dana White, not Chandler, not Conor McGregor, and not even the usual MMA insiders that leak such information.
And, honestly, ‘Iron’ himself has recently been talking about UFC Freedom 250 like a guy who’s still fully preparing for the massive event.
In a recent interview with Fox & Friends, Michael Chandler said that the UFC is still figuring out the logistics for the event, especially the extreme security and setup challenges of staging fights on the White House lawn. Still, he made it very clear that he plans to compete there.
He even spoke about choosing the event because he wanted to be part of something “historic.”
“They said, ‘Hey, do you want to fight at the White House?'” Chandler said. “Would you rather, you know, kind of continue to chance?
“And I say, hey, I’m going to go ahead and fight at the White House. This is more of a short thing. And I get to be part of something historic. So here we go. June 14th.”
Right now, Michael Chandler is expected to face Mauricio Ruffy on that card. The matchup itself is already risky enough considering Chandler has lost three consecutive fights and five of his previous six overall.
Meanwhile, the McGregor bout is now official. After more than five years out from competition, the former two-division UFC champion will return to fight Max Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas. The much-awaited homecoming is set for July 11 during International Fight Week at welterweight.
The will they/will they not situation that made the pullout claim believeable
The Irishman was originally supposed to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 303 before withdrawing due to a broken toe, and that got ‘Iron’ obsessed with going one-on-one against Conor McGregor the moment he returns.
After all, he got that chance to face him after basically putting his whole career on pause after losing to Dustin Poirier in 2022. ‘Iron’ stayed inactive for almost 19 months while everyone else in the lightweight division moved on, all because he believed the ‘The Notorious’ fight would be the biggest bag of his career.
After the pullout and more waiting time, things even looked positive for a while when Michael Chandler claimed in early 2026 that things were looking positive after he had “conversations” about him fighting McGregor at the White House.
“I will say it’s gonna be a big year,” he said on live TV during a New Year’s Eve party hosted by the UFC’s broadcast partner, CBS.
But all his dreams were shut down by Dana White, who in an interview with Complex let his true feelings on the bout be known.
Speaking about the fight, he suggested the matchup was old news.
“That was a couple years ago. No,” he said.
Now, this history of chasing Conor McGregor is probably why fans instantly jumped on this latest rumor. However, there is currently no evidence that Michael Chandler is leaving the White House card or becoming the backup fighter for McGregor vs. Holloway. The story simply came from a parody account and nowhere else.
