Michael Chandler and Paddy Pimblett found out their fight at UFC 314 is getting a little extra attention after Conor McGregor mentioned them on social media on Thursday.

The former two-division UFC champion, who hasn’t competed since suffering a broken leg in a fight back in 2021, posted “I am interested in the Chandler/Pimblett fight this weekend” along with training footage that showed him working with one of his coaches. Addressing the Twitter post during the UFC 314 pre-fight press conference, Chandler has been there and done that after he was attached to a fight against McGregor for the better part of two years following a season spent coaching against each other on The Ultimate Fighter.

Unfortunately, the fight never actually happened after McGregor broke his toe in training, which delayed the scheduled matchup expected back in 2024, and the UFC never revisited the bout again.

“I’m sure he’s watching,” Chandler said reacting to McGregor’s message. “He watches and he is very interested in coming back but can he put together a training camp? That’s the real question. We don’t know. All I know is you can see by my actions fighting Charles Oliveira in November and now fighting five months later Paddy Pimblett, putting my ranking on the line, going out to brave the unknown, I’m going to stay active.

“The first 26 months in the organization, I weighed in six times, fought five times. Fight of the Night, Fight of the Year, Debut of the Year, Knockout of the Year, all I do is put on great fights. I do it for you guys and on Saturday night, we’re going to do it again. I don’t really care what Conor tweets. If he comes back, we’ve got to finish The Ultimate Fighter 31 and he’s going to be impressed by my performance on Saturday night.”

Once it was clear that McGregor wasn’t returning in a timely fashion, Chandler booked the fight against Oliveira but unfortunately things didn’t go his way. Chandler ultimately lost a unanimous decision but as mentioned, he wasted no time accepting the fight against Pimblett for Saturday’s UFC 314 card from Miami.

As for Pimblett, he seemed happy to hear the news that McGregor is keeping a watchful eye on his fight but he can’t concern himself too much with the Irish superstar.

The matchup against Chandler is by far the biggest opportunity of Pimblett’s UFC career and he can’t even contemplate a fight with McGregor until after he wins.

“I seen it obviously, I got sent it by a good few people,” Pimbeltt said about McGregor’s message. “I welcome that fight. That’s where the money’s at.

“But I can’t look past Michael. I’ve got to fight Michael on Saturday night and get the win here. That’s all that matters.”

There’s been no concrete indication on when McGregor might fight again but he continues to tease his comeback and now he’s at least got Chandler and Pimblett paying attention ahead of their co-main event fight at UFC 314.