Conor McGregor Says He's Fighting Michael Chandler on UFC White House Card in 2026

Having already publicly requested to fight on the UFC White House event next year, Conor McGregor now says he will be on the card challenging Michael Chandler.

Appearing on the Friday episode of Fox News' Fox & Friends (h/t Damon Martin of MMA Fighting), McGregor definitively stated he's "on" the card.

"[I'm fighting] Michael Chandler," he added. "Michael Chandler and myself have done the show The Ultimate Fighter, we've had a good back and forth. He's a good, tough guy."

When President Donald Trump first announced plans for a UFC show at the White House in 2026, McGregor and Jon Jones were two of the most prominent fighters to say they wanted to be part of it.

UFC president Dana White announced on Aug. 29 that the show was on after he had meetings with White House officials in Washington D.C. An official date for the show has not yet been announced, but it's expected to be held at some point in June.

A McGregor-Chandler bout has been teased for more than two years when they were announced as coaches for a season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2023. It was supposed to lead into a match at UFC 303, but McGregor withdrew two weeks before the event due to an injury suffered in training.

Since the White House card was announced, Chandler has frequently talked about possibly fighting McGregor. He even issued a challenge to the former two-division champion in July.

"Conor's the guy. Conor's the guy that I want to fight," Chandler told TMZ Sports. "At this point, it feels like we have to finish The Ultimate Fighter 31."

White has said he won't book Jones on the show because he needs people he can "count on" for an event of this magnitude. McGregor is certainly a mercurial personality, to say the least, but White insists he can rely on him.

Appearing on The Jim Rome Show this week (h/t Ryan Harkness of SB Nation), White said he isn't going to start building the White House card until February.

This doesn't mean that McGregor won't be on the show, but until anything is officially announced, nothing should be taken as definite.

McGregor hasn't fought in UFC since losing to Dustin Poirier via TKO at UFC 264 in July 2021. He suffered a broken leg in the first round and the fight was stopped in between the first and second rounds.