Michael Chandler has seemingly learned how to live in limbo. For nearly three years, his career has orbited one unfinished promise, a fight that was announced, delayed, canceled, but never fully buried. And even now, after Dana White publicly dismissed the idea of Chandler facing Conor McGregor at the UFC’s planned White House event, the former Bellator champion isn’t letting go.

When Chandler appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show, he didn’t pretend the boss’s comments were encouraging. They weren’t. Asked for his reaction, Chandler admitted the obvious before widening the lens.

“We’ll see how this whole thing plays out,” he said, acknowledging that “nobody has any idea what the fights are going to be on the White House card.” That uncertainty cuts both ways. For Michael Chandler, it leaves just enough space to believe.

He didn’t sugarcoat the moment either. “Obviously, it’s not encouraging. It’s not great to hear,” Chandler said. But he followed it with perspective earned through experience: “I’ve also heard many things that were not encouraging that turned out to be not true.” In other words, he’s learned not to treat public statements as verdicts.

‘Iron’ coached opposite McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter in 2023. They were booked to fight in June 2024. The build was real. Then a toe injury erased everything. Since then, Chandler has fought twice, losing to Charles Oliveira and Paddy Pimblett, all while reducing his margin for error in the lightweight division.

At 39, time matters. Yet he still believes the logic of the matchup hasn’t changed. That belief came through clearly when he spoke about control or the lack of it.

“All we can do is just hope and pray and kind of see what happens,” Chandler said, framing the situation as bigger than any one person. He called the McGregor fight “an explosive fight and an exciting fight,” adding, “I think I’m his top choice. He’s my top choice. That’s the fight that we want.”

And there’s no backup plan. That part might surprise fans, but the American lightweight was unwavering. When Helwani asked if there was a Plan B, Chandler shut it down immediately. He went further, explaining that the only way this “train” derails is if one of them gets announced against someone else. Until then, he’s training as if June 14 is real.

Is it denial? Or is it resilience sharpened by years in limbo? Michael Chandler doesn’t seem interested in answering that question. For now, he’s chosen his lane, yet he’s not the only one who’s been sidelined from the Conor McGregor fight recently!

Dana White removes Jorge Masvidal and Michael Chandler from the Conor McGregor fight speculation

Jorge Masvidal knows that feeling well, and his White House hopes have hit the same wall as ‘Iron’. Masvidal didn’t exactly hide his interest in the June 14 event. Recently, ‘Gamebred’ stated, “They’re talking, dialogue has been opened, there is communication, and we will keep that communication going”, and claimed that a clash against ‘The Notorious’ could be in the works.

Masvidal vs McGregor at the White House. It sounded chaotic enough to be real. But Dana White wasted no time extinguishing it.

Asked directly about the speculation, the UFC CEO dismissed it outright while speaking to TMZ, “No, that’s goofy sh—.” White even brushed the rumors off completely, saying he doesn’t pay attention to online MMA chatter at all. In his view, most of what circulates on the internet about the sport is flat-out wrong, so speculation like McGregor vs. Masvidal never even registers with him.

That wasn’t a soft no. That was a door slammed shut. So, Michael Chandler can keep training, keep believing, and keep “hoping and praying,” but the decision doesn’t live with him. It lives with the UFC, and right now, Dana White isn’t budging.

The same wall that stopped Jorge Masvidal has stopped Chandler, too, turning the White House card into more mystery than promise. Until names are officially inked, Chandler’s patience will continue to be tested, and belief will have to do the heavy lifting.