Considering both waiting for Bellator fights, Michael Chandler pitches bout to Rory MacDonald

Rory MacDonald this past week responded to a Twitter user to say it doesn’t look like he’ll be back in the Bellator cage until 2018.

It sounds like former lightweight champion Michael Chandler is facing a similar predicament. So Chandler has a solution: He and MacDonald might as well throw down.

Chandler (16-4 MMA, 13-4 BMMA) responded to MacDonald’s (19-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) original tweet by saying, “well…looks like we are in the same boat. I’ve got my dancing shoes on if you’re not busy in Nov/Dec.”

MacDonald replied and said his inactivity is not necessarily because no one wants to fight him, but because of the promotion’s “scheduling strategy.” But beyond that, he “would b happy 2fight asap.”

Earlier this year in London, Bellator President Scott Coker said MacDonald was a near certainty to headline the promotion’s return to Canada. MacDonald is a British Columbia native and longtime member of Tristar Gym in Montreal. But Coker said that return north of the border probably will not take place until 2018, which gives credence to MacDonald’s “scheduling strategy” comment.

Bellator has made seven trips to Canada, all to the province of Ontario. Five of those events have taken place at Casino Rama, about 90 minutes north of Toronto. And two have been in Windsor, which is a stone’s throw across the Detroit River from the U.S., so may as well be in the States.

The promotion’s most recent visit to Canada came more than three years ago for Bellator 119. Since then, Bellator has ramped up its international presence in a major way, including visits to Italy, England, Israel, Ireland and Northern Ireland – but Canada hasn’t worked its way back into the fold.

In May, MacDonald made his Bellator debut and ripped through Paul Daley with a second-round rear-naked choke. He had signed with the promotion in 2016 after years with the UFC.

Chandler lost his lightweight title to Brent Primus in June in a major upset at Bellator NYC at Madison Square Garden. A cageside doctor called off the fight due to a Chandler leg injury, giving Primus a TKO win and the belt.

A proposed fight with MacDonald, as unlikely as it seems, presumably would have Chandler moving up from lightweight to welterweight, at least temporarily.

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie‘s official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.