Michael Chandler believes Conor McGregor tried to ‘get under his skin’ every chance he could on TUF 31

After nearly an entire summer of reality television, Michael Chandler was given a chance to reflect on his experiences, coaching opposite Conor McGregor on TUF 31.

Michael Chandler’s veterans team dominated McGregor’s prospects, winning all but one fight throughout the first nine weeks of competition.

Nonetheless, the show reached its boiling point on several occasions as the pair nearly came to blows at the UFC APEX, resulting in a shoving match that had to be broken up by UFC president Dana White.

In an interview with former UFC double-champion Daniel Cormier ahead of Tuesday night’s final episode, Michael Chandler, a former Bellator champion and UFC lightweight title challenger, gave his assessment on how he dealt with Conor McGregor’s ever-changing and brash persona toward the show and the fighters.

“I wanted to beat Conor in every single thing,” Chandler said. “I wanted to show up and be a better coach, a better mentor, a better friend, beat him in the coaches challenge. Be better at him than everything. Because the fight itself, the build-up, the lead up, the ‘I am better than you’ started the day that we got there.”

Michael Chandler said he noticed a change in McGregor as the season went on.

”The great thing about Conor, and I will give him some huge props here, is he would go three, four days of trying to be my friend, trying to be buddy-buddy, trying to be like ‘Hey man, it’s all business. You know, I’m the biggest guy in the sport. You’re on my show, but you’re a nice guy.’ And then all the sudden, he’d flip the script and one day, he’d go completely nuts on me or he would go hit a little bit deep, a little bit deeper of a cut to kinda try to get under my skin, so you never quite knew which Conor you would get.”

Though the fight has not been officially announced at press time, McGregor and Chandler have been inked to UFC 296 in Las Vegas in December at a to-be-determined weight.

What are your thoughts on Michael Chandler’s comments? Let us know, Penn Nation!