Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler: Javier Mendez’s Perspective

The long awaited return of Conor McGregor is finally here as he is set to main event UFC 303 against Michael Chandler on June 29th.

Legendary coach and former rival of McGregor, Javier Mendez has declared Chandler the rightful heir to the fight despite many callouts from the likes of Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira.

He also credited Khabib’s stardom to Conor McGregor!

Speaking with King Casino Bonus, Mendez said: 

• Michael Chandler is the one for McGregor, not Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje
• I don’t like McGregor but he made Khabib a star
• Cain Velasquez would out-wrestle Tom Aspinall; Nobody could’ve beaten Khabib, not even Jose Aldo

Michael Chandler is the one for McGregor, not Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje

I think Diego Lima is doing a great job hyping up his fighter, but everybody wants to see Conor and Chandler. Chandler deserves that fight. I don’t think that anyone deserves the McGregor fight more than Chandler. Lima is doing a great job hyping his fighter. Everyone would want that fight because Connor is one of the marquee names and will be a box office hit when he comes back again. Conor brings a lot of attention and he is of course getting a lot of attention at the moment with his movie which came out at number one. Love him or hate him – I don’t like him – he is a star. I don’t like the way he acts but he’s a great fighter. You can’t take that from him. He’s got four of the highest pay per views in the UFC. I don’t like him but he’s a great opponent for anyone, he’s a great dance partner because he builds the animosity, look at the animosity Conor built with Khabib, then the jumping over the cage that Khabib did, that made Khabib a bigger star having a dance partner like Conor. Good versus bad. You need a narrative to follow. 

I don’t like McGregor but he made Khabib a star

When Michael Johnson hit Khabib with that good shot, that was my bad moment. I was freaking out because I knew his father would be watching and I knew his father would not want Khabib standing with Michael. I was frantic saying ‘go back to father’s plan, go back to father’s plan’. That was a tough moment. And when he jumped over the cage, that was another tough moment, but it also made him into a big star.  

Cain Velasquez would out-wrestle Tom Aspinall; Nobody could’ve beaten Khabib, not even Jose Aldo

It would have been tough for Tom Aspinall because of Cain’s wrestling, his wrestling would have been superior to Tom’s. It would have come down to wrestling and I don’t think Tom would be able to wrestle to that degree, he would be in trouble. Cain could stand with anyone in the stand up, but Cain had a lot of injuries and other things happen to him, he was mismanaged at times, if weren’t for those things he would have been the greatest heavyweight of all time. 

It would not have gone good for Aldo. He would have been too small, he’s not big enough to offer any threat to Khabib. He wouldn’t be able to deal with the wrestling. Jose did well with guys taking him down, but Khabib was a master at takedowns, there’s nobody Khabib couldn’t take down and Aldo would have been no exception, plus the size. Khabib was a big lightweight. Aldo was one of the greatest for sure, but he would have not been able to deal with the pressure. No matter who Khabib takes down at lightweight he’d maul them. In my eyes Khabib is the greatest of all time.

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Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.