Conor McGregor vows to use horror injury as a weapon in ‘Terminator’ style beatdown of Michael Chandler

Conor McGregor doesn’t view his broken leg as a target of weakness, but as a new weapon to add to the arsenal ahead of his long-awaited UFC return in June.

Conor McGregor is finally set to make his long-awaited return to the octagon at UFC 303 in June, and whilst many a lesser athlete would be looking to keep their worst injuries as far away from danger as possible; the Irishman is looking to take full advantage of his new ‘Terminator’ weaponry.

Headlining International Fight Week and UFC 303 will be the ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor, who is making his highly anticipated return to the sport against fellow fan favorite ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler.

Since making his UFC debut in 2021, Chandler has gone 2-3 in the promotion and failed to compete at all in 2023 as he (albeit successfully) waited out for ‘Red Panty Night’ – his last bout ended in a third-round submission loss to Dustin Poirier.

‘The Diamond’ was the last man to also defeat Conor McGregor in the octagon back in 2021, with the former double champion forced into an extensive recovery period after suffering a horrific broken leg in the first round.

Whilst many UFC fighters who have also suffered limb breaks in the octagon consequently shied away from using such attacks in their return fight, it appears that McGregor is looking forward to the opportunity to test his leg’s durability against Chandler.

Speaking with British actor and TV personality James Cordon via the This Life of Mine podcast, McGregor pointed to his horror leg break not as an area of weakness for ‘Iron’ to exploit, but as a new weapon in his arsenal.

“I am Terminator now,” said the former featherweight and lightweight world champion, explaining how “I have a Titanium rod that goes into the knee and down to the bone, right down to my ankle.”

“It’s unbreakable, I wish for and I will work for landing this kick with this steel bar in my leg against an opponent and get them out of there.”

McGregor even went as far as to say that after getting his hand raised on June 29, he’d like to see a side-by-side comparison of the horror leg break, opposite an image of him head-kicking Chandler at UFC 303:

“I want to see a picture of myself in the octagon with my broken leg, and then I want to see a picture of myself in the octagon with my leg wrapped around my opponent’s neck or neck and putting him out side by side.”

Speaking via the SevereMMA YouTube channel, head coach John Kavanagh revealed that not only is McGregor fully committed to getting his hand raised on June 29, but that he’s looking sharp in training ahead of UFC 303.

“He’s looking super slick,” said Kavanagh, who shared that after a certain number of professional fights, the sport “starts becoming a job” for young athletes: “It does, [no matter] the passion and my love of this, it’s a job and its hard to keep the level on intensity.”

“Even if it’s not physical, the level of mental intensity of always thinking about training, always thinking about sequences, always thinking about techniques; that’s something that Conor has had naturally his whole career.”

“Even when there was times where he’s all filming and doing this, doing that, we’re still always having conversations back and forwards…He’s come back on the mats as sharp as ever, of course we’ve got to get the rounds in and the conditioning up but his technique is as sharp as ever.”

Whilst the veteran coach refused to give much away on the gameplan itself, Kavanagh did predict that McGregor would earn a standout victory inside the first 10 minutes:

“I’ve said this from the start, but I see similarities to the [Chad] Mendes fight, and I’d be surprised if it can go two rounds – he just hits too hard.”

Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler is the headline attraction of UFC 303, scheduled for June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.