For more than a year, Michael Chandler’s career revolved around one name, Conor McGregor. They filmed The Ultimate Fighter 31 in early 2023. The UFC booked them for June 2024 at UFC 303. Then the press conference vanished, McGregor got injured, and the fight collapsed. Chandler stayed ready anyway. He waited, trained, promoted, and turned down other options because he believed the promise they made on TUF still mattered.

But dreams can become anchors. Fans wondered how long he would hold out for the McGregor matchup. Chandler wondered too. And at home, someone finally told him what everyone else was thinking: it was time to stop waiting.

Michael Chandler pulls back the curtain on his wife’s role in moving on from the Conor McGregor fight

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet in a clip shared on X by Home of Fight, Chandler revealed the turning point, and it wasn’t in the gym or at a UFC meeting. It was at home. “It was a personal decision for me,” he began. Then he credited the person who changed everything: his wife.

According to him, she gave him a gentle but sharp reality check. She told him, “Hey, baby, like your brand and who you are and why people love you is you are a guy who takes action. And I think somewhere along the way you kind of lost yourself a little bit because you’re kind of, you’re a man of your words. You want the fight to happen. So you want to finish it because you’re a man of your word. You know, so she’s like, you know, I feel like you’ve lost yourself a little bit there and forgot that you’re the guy who takes action.”

He said she reminded him that, “You’re the guy who constantly moves forward in the face of adversity with complete disregard to your previous failures, to your future, to your future opposition and to your current circumstances.” Her message? Stop waiting. Act.

And Michael Chandler did exactly that. He confessed that he was hesitant at first, but the couple prayed together for guidance and then, “I woke up one morning, called Hunter Campbell and I was like, I want Madison Square Garden, Charles Oliveira. He’s like, all right, done. And then now here we are.”

And just like that, he was back in motion. The result wasn’t what he hoped, a unanimous-decision loss, but the decision to take on someone other than the Irishman? That was the victory. Michael Chandler had reclaimed control. Now here’s the twist. That walk-away moment may end up leading him right back to the man he stopped chasing. Because as fate would have it, McGregor resurfaced.

In September 2025, the Irish star declared on Fox & Friends that he expects to face Chandler at the UFC White House card in 2026 by stating, “The Mac is excited to get back for sure. I’m on [the White House card], [I’m fighting] Michael Chandler. Michael Chandler and myself have done the show The Ultimate Fighter, we’ve had a good back and forth. He’s a good, tough guy.”

Poetic, isn’t it? When he chased, the door stayed shut. When he let go, it cracked open. Will this saga finally reach its conclusion in 2026? Only time will tell, but it’s not just Conor McGregor who is in ‘Iron’s crosshair as he recently took aim at a name beyond the confines of the Octagon!

Chandler calls out Logan Paul for a clash inside the WWE ring

While the MMA world waits to see if Chandler vs. McGregor finally materializes at the White House card, the former Bellator champ has been thinking beyond cage doors. WWE doors, to be precise. And the name he dropped? Logan Paul.

During his chat with Chris Van Vliet, he didn’t shy away from teasing a wrestling debut. When asked about WWE, he flashed that trademark confidence and shared, “When’s Wrestlemania? [April] So we can’t do Wrestlemania. SummerSlam is in August? I knew there’s one in August. Minneapolis in August. Me versus Logan Paul. Could be awesome.”

He added there are “a lot of talks” to come, and that the WWE already knows he’s interested, and he believes interest goes both ways. That’s not fantasy booking; that sounds like a pitch brewing.

But why WWE, and why now? Michael Chandler made it clear: pro wrestling has always had his attention. He confessed that he grew up watching Diamond Dallas Page, Steve Austin, and The Rock. And the way he described wrestling shows how deeply he connects to it as he shared, “So I think watching wrestling, you watch the way that they carried themselves, and you’re like I see a little bit of something inside of me in that ring right now. And I think that’s why people love wrestling so much as well, because it’s beautiful storytelling, and there’s beautiful rivalries, but then there’s also the redemption stories.”

Now, fans find themselves asking the same question: which door will Chandler walk through first? The historic White House card with McGregor? Or a high-profile WWE showdown with Logan Paul under the bright lights of SummerSlam? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!