Chael Sonnen reacts to Conor McGregor's 'unfinished business' with Michael Chandler while dismissing the Notorious' wish for a stadium fight

Conor McGregor ’s stepping back into the Octagon has now become a far-from-reality thing, with the fighter being more interested in his political venture. His newfound passion to run for the presidential post of Ireland has raised uncertainties in terms of scheduling the last two bouts remaining in his contract. The fighter, however, tries to remain relevant within the combat sports community through his posts on the recent happenings in the UFC . Recently, the fighter wrote on X, expressing his only condition to return to the Octagon, i.e. if the bout ever happens in a stadium. American promoter Chael Sonnen joins the league to comment on the condition of McGregor’s as well as criticize his ' unfinished business ' with Michael Chandler .
American promoter Chael Sonnen gets critical about Conor McGregor’s rumored return to the OctagonFollowing the recent event of WrestleMania 41 on the 19th and 20th of April, 2025 and the roaring success of it, Irish fighter Conor McGregor reposted a clip from the extravagant event and captioned it as “I’ll only come back to a stadium”


The condition met with a lot of criticism from the fans, who even interpreted McGregor’s words to be indicative of the fact that the fighter will never return to the Octagon. American promoter Chael Sonnen seemed awestruck by the condition of McGregor.

“Conor McGregor will only return for a stadium-sized event. That’s a fascinating claim.” Sonnen got nostalgic about the one time when a boxing match headlined by Manny Pacquiao was organized at a stadium in Dallas. The American promoter went on to list a few prerequisites, even if McGregor is willing to comeback to a stadium.

“If I want to promote that and I go, get a stadium, can I have him? Because something tells me I am also going to need pay-per-view, something tells me I am going to need a guarantee. Something tells me I am going to need a guarantee, something tells me I am going to need to bring in his entourage, something tells me I am also going to need a section of seats and something tells me he is going to need a cut of the revenue, but it doesn’t say that.”


Ideas for an unconventional setting for bouts to happen is not a new thing. Sonnen himself got an offer once to fight Mike Tyson on top of a skyscraper, which never really happened. He also cited the example of KSI wanting to fight on Alcatraz once. Sonnen instead proposes an alternative with a smaller venue but a bigger paycheck of almost $100 million fo McGregor, wondering if the second option is more viable and workable.

Sonnen further criticized McGregor for his ‘unfinished business’ with Michael Chandler post on X. The former MMA fighter straight clarified the disastrous results of The Ultimate Fighter 31 .

“You and Chandler don’t have any business. You did a season of the Ultimate Fighter. The ratings were so bad, they had to bring me and Daniel Cormier in to try to revive the whole story…You did real bad business the one time you did business…there has never been a main event in UFC history that would have more losses from both sides going into it.”

Sonnen doesn’t believe that a show featuring McGregor would pull an audience as large the size of a stadium. Owing to his previous way of pulling out of the fight against Chandler because of a toe injury, the audience wouldn’t be keen on watching the same guy.

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Chael Sonnen, while emphasizing on his relationship with Michael Chandler, dismisses the fact the Notorious has any business with Chandler. The promoter even nullified the desire of the Irish fighter to get into action at a stadium, simply by reflecting on the latter’s bout records in recent times.