!["F*** Chandler" - Conor McGregor targets Justin Gaethje fight for BMF belt](/upload/news/2023/08/03/82152.jpg)
Conor McGregor has repeated his "f*** Chandler" sentiment and targeted a fight for the BMF title against his old rival Justin Gaethje to set up a trilogy with Nate Diaz.
The Irishman is due to fight Chandler at the end of the year after the pair coached on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, but no date has been set for the bout despite months of build-up. He also may still have lingering issues with the US Anti-Doping Agency, who would require six months in their random testing pool including two negative drugs tests.
And with the Chandler bout in the balance, he has seemingly set his sights on Gaethje, who last weekend won the custom BMF belt that was made for Diaz in 2019 before being taken out of retirement. Gaethje defeated McGregor's three-time opponent Dustin Poirier with a second round knockout.
After tweeting and deleting a message that read "F*** Chandler," McGregor posted about Diaz's upcoming boxing fight with Jake Paul on Saturday night. "Regardless of that nonsense match me and Nate will be completing the trilogy," he wrote. "I am going to go grab that BMF belt right quick for us to compete for it in the trilogy."
It's not the first time McGregor has expressed an interest in giving up on the Chandler bout, which was initially announced in February. On Saturday night, he wrote "F*** Chandler" in a message calling out Gaethje, insisting that he would be up for that fight four years after their initial booking which was scuppered by injury.
Who do you think Conor McGregor should fight next; Michael Chandler or Justin Gaethje? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
McGregor first wrote "Justin, I’ll slap you around," before adding a further message that concerned fans. "I’m the real BMF, he can fight for pennies if he wants but I want spirits. I call the shots, I’m in it to launch shots, f*** chandler, you want it call for it."
Gaethje initially seemed uninterested, saying: "I think he's turned me down six times. So usually you have to lose to fight him so I don't know what's going on... I don't know, you know I don't really care, I really don't care... Whatever, I fight MMA, I like to fight big fights and I like exciting things, it sounds pretty exciting to me."
However, he has since vocally showed his interest in the bout, telling the Irishman to "sign the contract" and imploring him to submit to USADA drug testing. McGregor wrote on Twitter that it was "signed", with a picture of his autograph on a photo, and it now seems that Chandler may be out in the cold.