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Michael Chandler shuts down Conor McGregor UFC 329 injury conspiracy theories: ‘He’s not a quitter’

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2 months ago

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Michael Chandler shuts down Conor McGregor UFC 329 injury conspiracy theories: ‘He’s not a quitter’

Michael Chandler has had his eye on Conor McGregor for years and doesn't think there's anything nefarious about what went down in his UFC 329 comeback fight.

McGregor left fans sorely disappointed this Saturday when his main event rematch with Max Holloway ended in just 69 seconds due to McGregor suffering a leg injury. The bout marked McGregor's first UFC fight since 2021 and the crowd at T-Mobile Arena reacted in stunned silence when the bout was suddenly waved off.

In the aftermath of the controversial ending, there has been widespread speculation as to whether McGregor had a pre-existing injury and, if so, were UFC officials aware that McGregor was not in condition to compete. Chandler is one of many fighters jumping to McGregor's defense and he shared his thoughts in a video posted to Instagram.

“A guy like Conor who comes out in the first three seconds, jumps across the cage, turns his body, throws a kick, lands weird, leg buckles,†Chandler said. “Then throws another kick, leg buckles. Throw a punch, leg buckles, and everybody's trying to figure out was Conor injured prior to the fight? Did Conor just show up and hoodwink everybody and he just showed up for a paycheck and doesn't care who he hurts in the process?

“I would be absolutely surprised, like the most surprised person on the planet if Conor just showed up for a paycheck, limped in there, and said, ‘I don't care. I'm going to give you guys one minute, shave my head into a mohawk, show up, do the intros, and then just bow out one minute later. You can say what you want about Conor, Conor's mistakes are well-documented, Conor's shortcomings are well-documented over the past 15 years in this sport. One thing he is not, he's not a quitter. One thing he is not, is a bamboozler.â€

Chandler also doubts the UFC would allow a severely compromised McGregor just to draw viewers in for what turned out to be a non-fight.

“The UFC is not the type of organization that's going to have conversations behind closed doors and say, ‘Hey, it's all good, man. We're going to get everybody hooked in on this Paramount stream and then you're going to bounce out one minute in,'†Chandler said. “That's just not what they do, it's not how they operate business.â€

The 38-year-old McGregor has been out of action since July 2021, when he broke his leg in a trilogy bout against longtime rival Dustin Poirier. In recent months, the former two-division UFC champion had made multiple public declarations regarding his dedication to religion and a rededication to training and preparing for a comeback.

Chandler pointed out that fighters are susceptible to all kinds of injuries once the cage door closes and that McGregor's disastrous opening gambit wasn't out of character for him.

“The fact of the matter is the body is a crazy thing and it can handle a lot,†Chandler said. “It can handle a lot of damage, it can handle a lot of contortion, and then at other times you look at the body and you see the way bodies react or how results happen in a fight and it looks as though a guy who's 100 percent durable in the past and then takes one little misstep and all of a sudden a body part crumbles or the equilibrium goes away.

“What I'm getting at is the body is unpredictable and every fight is unpredictable and if you look at Conor—because I've had a lot of people say, ‘Man, why would Conor do that? He came out like an idiot, jumped across the cage and threw a kick.'—Conor always does that. Every single fight. When I was training to fight him, I was expecting within the first five minutes, some kind of spinning wheel kick, some type of flying knee, some type of flying Superman punch. He did the Superman punch against ‘Cowboy' Cerrone within the first five seconds. Multiple fights within the first five seconds he's done a spinning wheel kick at the very beginning. Stalking a guy, getting him on the back foot, immediately throwing something crazy to get a guy thinking and remembering that hey, you're in the octagon with Conor McGregor, and Conor McGregor is a dominant human being. That's what he's trying to establish at the very beginning.â€

Previously, the closest McGregor came to a comeback fight was in 2024, when he was scheduled to fight Chandler at UFC 303. Chandler had been chasing a McGregor matchup for years and after they filmed a season of The Ultimate Fighter on which they served as opposing coaches, it appeared they would finally share the octagon. Unfortunately for Chandler, McGregor suffered a toe injury that removed him from UFC 303 and delayed his comeback another two years.

Regardless of McGregor's many outside-of-the-cage transgressions, Chandler believes when it comes to fighting, McGregor is strictly professional.

“I get the conspiracy theories, I get that people are upset,†Chandler said. “Conor's not the type of guy to do that. Say what you want about him, but he's a man of honor and integrity when it comes to the confines of competition and even trying to book fights.

“I believe he wants to fight me. I believe he tried to fight me. I believe he wanted to fight me, I believe that's how the negotiations went, and other plans were made. But the honor and the integrity of wanting to stick to and be a man of his word since he pulled out of that fight back in 2024, International Fight Week against me, I think he wanted to actually be a man of his word and see through to putting his name on that dotted line that had my name on it. So when it comes to the confines of competition, the dude would not just show up to get a paycheck.â€

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Noche UFC 4 Bonus Report: Tommy McMillen one of four 'POTN' winners

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7 hours ago

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September 12, 2026

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Noche UFC 4 Bonus Report: Tommy McMillen one of four 'POTN' winners
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Tom Aspinall issues statement on rumored UFC departure after coach's recent claims

The Octagon returned to Arizona for tonight's Noche UFC 4 event, and four fighters wound up taking home performance bonuses.

The 13-bout fight card was headlined by a men's featherweight bout featuring Jean Silva taking on Jose Delgado. The contest resulted in an amazing comeback win for Jean Silva. After being badly outpointed and dropped in the opening round, things did not really get a whole lot better for ‘Lord' in round two. Despite his slow start, Silva stormed back in round three by dropping Jose Delgado with a right hand and then securing a rear-naked choke to ultimately force a tapout just moments later. It was a big comeback win for the Brazilian, and one that puts him into immediate title contention at 145lbs.

Noche UFC 4 was co-headlined by a men's flyweight bout between Brandon Moreno and Joseph Morales. The matchup proved to be hard-fought back and forth affair. Morales got off to a good start, but the former champion was able to show his resilience by coming back strong in rounds two and three. After fifteen minutes of action, ‘The Assassin Baby' was awarded a much-needed split decision victory.

Following the conclusion of tonight's event, UFC officials announced at the post-fight press conference that 4 fighters would be taking home performance bonuses.

Fight of the night: Featherweight fighters Tommy McMillen and Marwan Rahiki each pocketed $100k for their thrilling war on tonight's Noche UFC 4 main card. McMillen ultimately won the contest by unanimous decision (29–28 x2, 29–27).

Performance of the night: Jean Silva earned an extra $100k for his third-round submission victory over Jose Delgado in tonight's event headliner (see that here).

Performance of the night: Sean King pocketed an extra $100k for his 36-second knockout (slam) victory over Jessie Rosas (see that here).

Are you surprised by any of the performance bonuses handed out by Dana White and company following the conclusion of tonight's Noche UFC 4 event? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

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Noche UFC 4: 'Silva vs. Delgado' Live Results and Highlights

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8 hours ago

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September 12, 2026

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Noche UFC 4: 'Silva vs. Delgado' Live Results and Highlights
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Jose Aldo set for October 4th fighting return vs. former UFC title challenger

The Octagon returns to Glendale, Arizona for tonight's Noche UFC 4 event, a 13-bout fight card headlined by Jean Silva vs. Jose Delgado.

Silva (17-3 MMA) was most previously seen in action at this past January's UFC 324 event, where he scored a unanimous decision victory over Arnold Allen. ‘Lord' has gone 4-1 over his past five fights overall, scoring stoppage victories over Drew Dober, Melsik Baghdasaryan and Bryce Mitchell during that stretch.

Meanwhile, Jose Delgado (12-2 MMA) will enter tonight's contest on a two-fight winning streak, this after scoring back-to-back decision victories over Austin Bashi and Andre Fili. Like his opponent Jean Silva, Delgado has gone 4-1 over his past five Octagon appearances, earning stoppage wins over Hyder Amil and Connor Matthews.

Noche UFC 4 is co-headlined by a men's flyweight matchup between Brandon Moreno and Joseph Morales.

(via Zuffa LLC)

Moreno (23-10-2 MMA) will enter the contest with hopes of snapping a two-fight losing skid. ‘The Assassin Baby' most previously took to the Octagon this past February, where he suffered a unanimous decision loss to Lone'er Kavanagh. That setback was preceded by a TKO loss to Tatsuro Taira at UFC 323 in December of last year. Prior to those defeats, the former flyweight champion had earned back-to-back decision wins over Amir Albazi and Steve Erceg.

Meanwhile, Joseph Morales (14-2 MMA) currently boasts a five-fight winning streak, with his most recent victory coming by way of submission over Matt Schnell this past November at UFC Vegas 111. ‘Bopo' has gone 6-2 since joining the UFC ranks in August of 2017.

Also featured on tonight's Noche UFC 4 main card lineup is a heavyweight contest between Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Curtis Blaydes.

Cortes-Acosta (17-3 MMA) will be returning to action for the first time since suffering a unanimous decision loss to Alexander Volkov this past May at UFC 328. Prior to that defeat, ‘Salsa Boy' had strung together three-straight knockout victories over opponents Ante Delija, Shamil Gaziev and Derrick Lewis.

Meanwhile, Curtis Blaydes (19-6 MMA) was most previously seen in the Octagon this past April at UFC 327, where he suffered a decision loss to Josh Hokit in a FOTN performance. Prior to that setback, ‘Razor' had earned a split decision victory over Rizvan Kuniev in June of last year.

Get all of tonight's live results and highlights below (refresh for updates):

Noche UFC 4 Main Card (5pm EST on Paramount+)

145 lbs: Jean Silva vs. Jose Delgado – Silva def. Delgado via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:57 of Round 3

125 lbs: Brandon Moreno vs. Joseph Morales – Moreno def. Morales by split decision (30-27 x2, 28-29)

145 lbs: Tommy McMillen vs. Marwan Rahiki – McMillen def. Rahiki by unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 29-27)

125 lbs: Manon Fiorot vs. Alexa Grasso – Grasso def. Fiorot by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

265 lbs: Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Curtis Blaydes – Blaydes def. Cortes-Acosta by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

135 lbs: David Martinez vs. Dan Ige – Martinez def. Ige by unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)

Noche UFC 4 Prelims (2pm EST on Paramount+)

130 lbs: Tim Elliott vs. Edgar Chairez – Elliott def. Chairez by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

170 lbs: Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Muslim Salikhov – Bahamondes def. Salikhov by unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)

185 lbs: Yousri Belgaroui vs. Djorden Santos – Belgaroui def. Santos via TKO (punches) at 4:25 of Round 1

155 lbs: Drakkar Klose vs. Tommy Gantt – Gantt def. Klose via submission (reverse triangle choke) at 2:46 of Round 3

155 lbs: Rafa García vs. Rong Zhu – Zhu def. Garcia by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

145 lbs: Jessie Rosas vs. Sean King – King def. Rosas via KO (slam) at 0:36 of Round 1

125 lbs: JJ Aldrich vs. Regina Tarin – Tarin def. Aldrich by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

Who are you picking to win tonight's featherweight main event between Jean Silva and Jose Delgado? Share your predictions in the comment section Penn Nation!

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

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Pros react after Jean Silva submits Jose Delgado at Noche UFC 4

Published

8 hours ago

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September 12, 2026

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Pros react after Jean Silva submits Jose Delgado at Noche UFC 4
Trending:

Tom Aspinall issues statement on rumored UFC departure after coach's recent claims

Tonight's Noche UFC 4 event was headlined by a men's featherweight bout between Jean Silva and Jose Delgado.

Silva (18-3 MMA) was returning to action for the first time since this past January's UFC 324 event, where he had scored a unanimous decision victory over Arnold Allen. ‘Lord' had gone 4-1 over his previous five fights overall, scoring stoppage victories over Drew Dober, Melsik Baghdasaryan and Bryce Mitchell during that stretch.

Meanwhile, Jose Delgado (12-3 MMA) had entered tonight's contest riding a two-fight winning streak, this after scoring back-to-back decision victories over Austin Bashi and Andre Fili in his most previous efforts. Like his opponent Jean Silva, Delgado had also gone 4-1 over his previous five Octagon appearances, earning stoppage wins over Hyder Amil and Connor Matthews during that time.

Tonight's Noche UFC 4 main event resulted in an amazing comeback win for Jean Silva. After being badly outpointed and dropped in the opening round, things did not really get a whole lot better for ‘Lord' in round two. Despite his slow start, Silva stormed back in round three by dropping Jose Delgado with a right hand and then securing a rear-naked choke to ultimately force a tapout just moments later. It was a big comeback win for the Brazilian, and one that puts him into immediate title contention at 145lbs.

Official Noche UFC 4 Results: Jean Silva def. Jose Delgado via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:57 of Round 3

Check out how the pros reacted to ‘Silva vs. Delgado' below:

Post-fight reactions to Silva defeating Delgado at Noche UFC 4:

Who would you like to see Jean Silva fight next following his submission victory over Jose Delgado this evening in Arizona? Share your thoughts in the comment section Penn Nation!

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

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