Pedro Carvalho confident teammate Conor McGregor returns to fight Michael Chandler: ‘It makes sense’

The UFC has yet to announce a date for Conor McGregor’s return to the octagon, especially considering the former two-division champion still needs to re-enter the USADA testing pool, but his teammate Pedro Carvalho believe they will stick to the original plan and match him up against Michael Chandler.

McGregor hasn’t fought since suffering a leg break in his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier July 2021, and the USADA policy requires him to undergo six months of testing before competing again once he re-enters the program. The Irish superstar coached opposite former Bellator champion Chandler on this year’s season of The Ultimate Fighter, but has since voiced interest in many other opponents for his return bout.

For Bellator featherweight contender Carvalho, who trains alongside “The Notorious” at SGB Ireland in Dublin, Chandler is the right match-up.

“I think it’s going to be Michael Chandler and it makes sense that it’s him,” Carvalho said on this week’s episode of MMA Fighting podcast Trocação Franca. “Not because they did TUF, but the fight itself, stylistic speaking. And it makes sense for the moment in the division. I think that’s the fight.”

Chandler went 2-3 since joining the UFC with wins over Dan Hooker and Tony Ferguson, but lost to Poirier in his most recent appearance. McGregor hasn’t won a bout since January 2020, a first-round knockout over Donald Cerrone. The veteran fighter lost two in a row to Poirier since, but Carvalho sees his friend as motivated as ever to go back in the eight-sided cage.

“He’s already training and I believe that will happen,” Carvalho said. “There are bureaucracies that exist and slow things down a bit, of course, but I think that will happen. I notice he’s not training just to train, he’s focused, so I have no doubt that there will be a date soon.”

Carvalho returns to the Bellator cage this Saturday in the co-main event of Bellator 299 in Dublin to fight Aaron Pico and hopes that a win sets up him for a clash with Jeremy Kennedy for the interim belt. Patricio Pitbull, the company’s featherweight champion, is currently sidelined after undergoing surgery.

Bellator

“It’s a fight that sells itself because it’s a rematch,” said Carvalho, who lost via decision to Kennedy in February. “I don’t like Jeremy Kennedy. I respect him as a fighter but I don’t like him as a person. It is what it is, I have nothing to hide here. Winning a title and putting my hands on him would have a special taste.”

Carvalho explains that his dislike for Kennedy comes from the fact that the 31-year-old Canadian “tries too hard to be something he’s not.”

“He wants to be a star but he has no star quality because he tries too hard,” Carvalho said. “He might be very effective, but he’s boring. Bellator can’t put together a highlight reel for him because he takes his opponents down but does nothing after that. He simply lays on top of them and waits for time to run out. He doesn’t punch, he doesn’t submit, nothing. Who wants to see an athlete like that? Nobody. No one remembers an athlete like that.”

The Portuguese talent, who once challenged Pitbull for the Bellator belt, is 6-4 under the company’s banner. He still feels a sour taste in his mouth after losing to Kennedy because he “had the obligation to do more,” and “I know I’m a better fighter than he is.”

“I saw everything he has to offer but I haven’t given him a third of what I can offer,” Carvalho continued. “If we fight again, I know what I can do different. Many things went wrong going into that fight but that doesn’t matter. If we fight again, it’s going to be a completely different story.”