UFC star Michael Chandler could be the latest MMA fighter to pursue a WWE career as he has revealed an interest in swapping The Octagon for the squared circle.
With WWE and UFC now under the same umbrella following the sale being finalised in September 2023, many top UFC fighters have appeared in the crowd at WWE events and vice versa. Back in February 2024 on the road to WrestleMania, Chandler appeared in the crowd and called out Conor McGregor.
With the likes of Ronda Rousey, Ken Shamrock, and Shayna Baszler all finding success in pro wrestling following the end of their MMA careers, Chandler could also be a future pro wrestler if he chooses to pursue the career path. According to the UFC fighter, it very much is an option.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Chandler noted that the interest would be mutual, and compared the potential pro wrestling career path to that of Diamond Dallas Page, who famously started his in-ring career later than most:
“I think it intrigues me. I think it’s a lot of fun. I do think I would enjoy it. I think there would be some intrigue and interest on both sides. Spending some time with Sheamus and a couple of other friends I have. Diamond Dallas Page has been a friend of mine for a very, very long time also. What’s really cool about him too, which would be kind of similar to my story, because he always said, my career didn’t take off till I was 40, because he came in as a manager. I think that’s one of the cooler things about the sport as well. It’s like a lot of mature men, the sport of mixed martial arts is a kind of a younger man’s game, but not really. We can get into that a little bit. I think young is awesome, and your body feels great, but you haven’t quite matured enough to get to that, not old man strength, but kind of that maturity of your body, and I think you don’t really hit that until 32-33, so I’m just a fan of the sport. Love to go to the live events, obviously, love to watch it on TV. Obviously, now WWE is now on ESPN at the time of this. So it’s pretty cool, man, a lot of fun to watch.”
In the MMA world, Chandler is heavily rumoured to finally face McGregor at one of the most famous locations in the world, as the UFC is set to host a future event at The White House in June 2026. When asked about the fight, Chandler stated that as far as he is concerned, he fight is still on and it will be McGregor that will prevent it from happening if it does not go ahead:
“As we sit here today, I would say I’m cautiously optimistic that that is the fight that’s going to happen. They’re definitely doing a fight at the White House. Conor was on the news and did interviews saying he’s fighting me at the White House. Dana’s doing interviews saying, hey, Conor is definitely motivated to come back. Because the biggest question here isn’t, is Conor and Chandler going to fight? The biggest question is, is Conor going to come back? We still don’t know. It remains to be seen.”
Michael Chandler Lines Up Possible WWE Match
Towards the end of the interview, the topic of WWE came up in conversation again, to which Chandler theorised a possible match against Logan Paul at SummerSlam, before adding that a lot of talks need to happen before it becomes a reality. However, Chandler also noted that there is likely interest on both sides:
“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. We’ll see. We got a lot of talks to happen between now and then. Obviously, they know I’m interested. I believe they’re interested. So we’ll see where we’re at.”
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Featured image: WWE
