Let the mind games begin...

Michael Chandler has no plans to focus on Conor McGregor’s surgically-repaired leg, snapped in half during his Dustin Poirier loss at UFC 264 back in summer 2021. That’s because “Iron” is too busy focusing on his strengths as opposed to his opponent’s weaknesses.

Or maybe Chandler just wants McGregor to feel like there’s some sort of gentlemen’s agreement that his “hurt leg” is off limits at UFC 303, then launch a surprise attack when the cage door closes in “Sin City,” sort of how Brad Tavares went straight for Chris Weidman’s leg at UFC 292 last summer.

“His ‘hurt leg’, if you would, going after it, it’s his back leg,” Chandler told The MMA Hour (transcribed by MMA News). “So me focusing on anything other than just being me and focusing on my strengths, which is always punches in bunches. Big punches, punches to the head, punches to the body, pick them up, put them down, kind of in your face, foot on the gas type of Michael Chandler style. It would be silly for me to think about anything more than that. Any time you can mess up a guy’s foundations, it’s good for you. Changes their movement, messes up the power in their punches, but I don’t see myself throwing a lot of leg kicks in this fight. So, haven’t really thought about it that much.”

I’m sure his coaches have.

Chandler, two years older than McGregor at 37, is also coming off a loss to Poirier, having been submitted by “The Diamond” at UFC 281 back in late 2022. “Iron” has not seen action since filming The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 31, patiently waiting for his “red panty night” with the sport’s top pay-per-view (PPV) draw.

“My ‘Mystic Mike’ prediction is I finish him in the second round,” Chandler said on Instagram. “Get him on his heels in the first round, make him second-guess himself in the first round, make him realize, ‘Dang, I probably should have just stayed rich and stayed out of the fight game.’ And I will start planting those seeds of doubts in the first round. By the end of the first round he will go back to his bench and go back to his corner huffing and puffing and realize that he’s about to meet his demise.”

For the current UFC 303 fight card and PPV lineup click here.