MICHAEL CHANDLER has warned Conor McGregor he’ll get “smacked” if he uses his family for trash talk ahead of their showdown.
The three-time Bellator lightweight champion will welcome McGregor back to the octagon later this year after they coach season 31 of the Ultimate Fighter.
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The mental warfare will get underway as soon as they begin filming for the long-time reality TV show – which will air in May and conclude in August.
McGregor, 34, has shown down the years that he’s not afraid to leave no subject untouched when it comes to trash talk – including taking aim at his opponent’s wives.
But Chandler won’t tolerate the Irishman mentioning his wife Brie or their yoing sons Hap and Ace, telling Barstool Sports: “If that happens, someone’s probably getting smacked.
“Let’s be honest. Ultimately, there’s lines that you don’t cross.”
Chandler, 36, isn’t expecting McGregor to use his young family as trash talk fodder but won’t hesitate to reprimand him with his fists if he crosses the line.
He said: “Ultimately, I’m going into it not thinking it’s going to happen and never expecting it to happen so I can just (clicks fingers) just either lose it or be like, ‘Oh, okay, that just happened.’
“I do need to figure out that. Like, ‘Hey, Dana [White], Hunter [Campbell], ESPN.
“‘If we do get in a fight and I knock this dude out here at the thing’ – I don’t know if it’s going to get aired or not because it might take away from the fight – ‘but we can still fight, right?’
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“Sometimes that happens at fights, the actual fights, and commissions are like, ‘You and me got in a fight at weigh-ins, we’re scrapping this fight.'”
Chandler has already mentally prepared himself for the prospect of McGregor trying to rile him up by mentioning his loved ones.
He said: “Ultimately, I’m expecting it not to happen but being prepared for it to happen and also visualising and seeing my seeing red and then whatever happens, happens.
“Sometimes the human spirit takes over and you think you’re in a fight and you just go.
“Ultimately, like I said, I’m not expecting it to happen but I’ll be pleasantly surprised if it does.”
And he’s also prepared wife Brie for the possibility of being the subject of McGregor’s trash talk.
He said: “Luckily, I have the most mentally strong and water of a duck’s back wife ever.
“She’s excited about this, she’s excited for me.
“She knows all about this and the enemy territory which I’m going into and have gone into as soon as that phone call came in and now that it’s announced.
“So ultimately, she’s excited for it.
“I said, ‘Hey, pull your hat down tight because this is going to be a fun ride for the next eight months.
“‘And then we kind of see what happens next.’ Fun as in, up downs, rage and joy.”
McGregor’s clash with Chandler will be his first outing since his breaking his leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier in July 2021.
The UFC’s poster boy has only won one of his last three octagon outings.
His last win came against the recently-retired Donald Cerrone, who he knocked out in 40 seconds at UFC 246 in January 2020.
Chandler, meanwhile, was last in action last November at UFC 281 – where he suffered a third-round submission defeat to Poirier.