{"id":36651,"date":"2026-01-03T03:04:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T08:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/01\/03\/jon-anik-tips-unexpected-successor-for-michael-chandler-as-conor-mcgregor-makes-white-house-comeback\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T03:04:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T08:04:38","slug":"jon-anik-tips-unexpected-successor-for-michael-chandler-as-conor-mcgregor-makes-white-house-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/01\/03\/jon-anik-tips-unexpected-successor-for-michael-chandler-as-conor-mcgregor-makes-white-house-comeback\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Anik Tips Unexpected Successor for Michael Chandler as Conor McGregor Makes White House Comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC commentators have downplayed the significance of the bout that might headline the White House event. Conor McGregor&#8217;s last win inside the Octagon was in January 2020, when he defeated Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds. Following consecutive losses to Dustin Poirier, McGregor&#8217;s future was uncertain, especially after a severe injury at UFC 264. However, both McGregor and Michael Chandler are optimistic that their long-anticipated fight will finally take place this year. While this fight would be a logical highlight for the White House lawn event in June, a UFC insider suggests a different main event could be more fitting.<\/p>\n<p>Jon Anik, a notable UFC commentator, expressed that the McGregor vs. Chandler matchup doesn&#8217;t excite him much at lightweight, despite Chandler&#8217;s deserving spot on the White House card. Instead, Anik wants to see McGregor face Nate Diaz or Mauricio Rua, with the Diaz trilogy making more sense and Rua being a surprising suggestion given his upcoming fight against Rafael Fiziev. McGregor has not been selective about his opponents for his UFC return, although he has previously noted that a fight with Chandler made the most sense. The McGregor-Chandler fight was scheduled for UFC 303 in June 2024 but was canceled due to McGregor&#8217;s toe injury and has yet to be rescheduled.<\/p>\n<p>Jon Anik also expressed doubts about McGregor\u2019s reliability for the White House event, despite Dana White\u2019s confidence in McGregor&#8217;s credibility. Anik suggested that even if McGregor had a strong connection with UFC President Dana White in the past, that might have changed, cautioning that while McGregor will return, it&#8217;s hard to count on him consistently.<\/p>\n<p>Fan Take: This potential McGregor vs. Chandler fight holds huge significance for fight fans eager to see McGregor back in action after a rocky few years. It could also mark a major moment in UFC history by bringing a high-profile bout to such a unique setting as the White House, highlighting the sport\u2019s growing mainstream appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UFC commentators have downplayed the significance of the bout that might headline the White House event. Conor McGregor&#8217;s last win inside the Octagon was in January 2020, when he defeated Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds. Following consecutive losses to Dustin Poirier, McGregor&#8217;s future was uncertain, especially after a severe injury at UFC 264. However, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2443],"tags":[2444],"class_list":["post-36651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fighting","tag-fighting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}