Eddie Alvarez tells Michael Chandler to wrestle Conor McGregor if he wants to win
Eddie Alvarez, who has fought both Michael Chandler and Conor McGregor, has shared some advice with Chandler.
Chandler and McGregor are the coaches of TUF 31 and are expected to fight later this year. The exact date is not certain, but it will be a highly-anticipated matchup and one many are torn on who will win.
Yet, according to Alvarez, he says Chandler needs to wrestle early and often if he is going to beat McGregor.
“Mike Chandler is a hell of an athlete,” Alvarez told ESPN. “I just think stylistically, the way he’s been fighting and the strategy he’s been going about fighting isn’t the way to get it done against Conor McGregor. And I would implore him if I was his coach to change his style, to go for single legs, to go for shots, and force Conor to wrestle early. You have to force him to wrestle early so he don’t have the powerful tools that he’s able to take advantage of (against) all these other guys – quick feet, good range, great striking. You take that away when you wrestle him early. Wrestle him early enough and tire his shoulders down, tire his legs down, slow him down, and he’s half the striker that he can be when he’s fully energized.”
Although Eddie Alvarez tells Michael Chandler to wrestle, he isn’t sure if Chandler will. Instead, he knows it will be a massive fight and one that he is intrigued to see if McGregor can get back to how he was when he beat Alvarez, Jose Aldo and Nate Diaz.
“Hell of a fight and a lot of questions would be answered with Conor’s time off,” Alvarez said. “Conor, of course, is not going to be the same Conor that he was back during his Jose Aldo, Nate Diaz, myself when he was fighting them, you know. He was quite active. He was fighting three and four times a year. So we wouldn’t expect the same exact guy who was excited about winning world titles, but will we see that resurgence of energy, enjoyment and excitement and gratitude toward the game of MMA? And I feel like we will.”
