Michael Chandler has waited long enough.

The former three-time Bellator lightweight champion ends his patient absence from action on Nov. 16 in the five-round co-main event of UFC 309. No, it won't be for his long-awaited matchup against former two-time UFC champion Conor McGregor, but instead in a rematch against Charles Oliveira.

Chandler has been one of the most exciting fighters on earth since his emergence with an all-time classic — and for my money the greatest fight ever — against Eddie Alvarez in 2011. But "Iron" had something to prove to his new UFC audience upon signing in 2021 and it quickly led him to a vacant title tilt opposite Oliveira. Unfortunately for Chandler, that bout didn't go his way and he lost via second-round TKO.

The sequel sees Chandler not only get an opportunity at redemption, but also what he expects to be, as per UFC CEO Dana White, a lightweight No. 1 contender tilt.

"That is from the boss' mouth to your ears," Chandler told Uncrowned on The Ariel Helwani Show regarding the bout's implications. "He said it's the No. 1 contender fight. Charles Oliveira is the highest-ranked guy in the division not named Arman Tsarukyan or Islam Makhachev. I beat him, I'm the No. 1 contender.

"The last fight [against Oliveira], obviously we didn't need five rounds. I started off a little bit too hot, as I tend to do, but it's a five-round co-main event on a huge card and it's a No. 1 contender implication. If I got to work for five rounds, I'll work for five rounds. I got a sneaky suspicion it's not going to take me that long, hopefully, this time."

Chandler, 38, hasn't fought since an unsurprisingly thrilling showdown with Dustin Poirier in November 2022. The Missouri native suffered his first submission loss that night, succumbing to a third-round rear-naked choke, leaving him with McGregor locked in his crosshairs.

A lightweight throughout his 31-fight career (23-8), Chandler was gearing up for a welterweight pairing against the Irishman. It felt like things were simply never going to materialize as time went on, but then the promotion booked McGregor vs. Chandler as the main event of UFC 303 in June.

All systems were a go until a broken McGregor pinky toe axed those plans and delayed Chandler further.

Despite his pipe-dream matchup now getting relegated to the backburner, McGregor is still on Chandler's mind. It will just have to come after getting one back over his Brazilian counterpart next month.

"All I think about is the No. 1 goal, which is the one fight that I have in front of me," Chandler said. "Obviously, if we get done with this fight, you're going to have Islam and Arman [fighting]. I don't know what that date is, but it sounds like it's going to be January. They're going to need a couple months to heal up, then you got Ramadan and all that stuff. So who knows what happens?

"The whole world knows, you know, and Conor knows — I want to fight Conor McGregor. We have to finish The Ultimate Fighter 31 or else it was all for naught. We have beef. We have a history. He needs to remove the stain of the MMA community's, in their mind, of him pulling out of this fight with a broken pinky toe. It needs to be Chandler vs. McGregor. His road back to the UFC goes through Nashville, Tennessee.

"That is the fight that I want," he continued. "All I'm saying is I'm more focused right now on the immediate goal, which is beating Charles Oliveira. Then all of a sudden, you got Chandler vs. McGregor becoming a No. 1 contender fight, and then the whole world goes bananas."

Amid Chandler's focus shift, McGregor has consistently teased bizarro world possibilities of him stepping into the BKFC ring, which he's now a partial owner of. This past Saturday, in particular, top lightweight contender and past opponent of Chandler's, Dan Hooker, was in attendance for BKFC Spain, leading the two to stir up some buzz.

McGregor, 36, claimed he'll be moving on to fight Hooker in Saudi Arabia early next year. But it's easy to get carried away with just about anything "The Notorious" proclaims in his recent outbursts, and whether it's calling for a Floyd Mayweather rematch or slandering Ilia Topuria, McGregor's comments should be taken with a grain of salt, believes Chandler.

"Conor's a very flavor of the week kind of guy," Chandler said. "I looked no further than that, honestly. Dan Hooker is in the top five now, and if anything, it just strengthens my case that I deserve to be in that top five, top six, anyway, because I have a win over him in my debut.

"I'm happy for Dan Hooker. I don't think the UFC is going to be very keen on McGregor vs. Hooker compared to McGregor vs. Chandler since we need to make this fight happen. I'm not really that worried about it. It's been up in the air for the better part of two years, so I'm not going to spend any time or energy or effort worrying about it. The good thing is I have a great job to do in front of me, and that's Nov. 16 at Charles Olivera."

McGregor and Chandler's International Fight Week billing this past summer was highly centered around the comeback of McGregor. Like Chandler, McGregor's last fight was also a loss to Poirier. However, the ending of said trilogy bout resulted in a devastating broken leg that sidelined McGregor for the remainder of the 2021 and then some.

As one of MMA's only stars to ever exist and transcend combat, McGregor has no real need to return to a cage or ring — other than settling some beef or purely out of passion. White and Chandler are both aware of the former two-division champion's position.

Sometimes the voices speak too loudly to ignore, and that's why Chandler still expects McGregor's return to come to fruition.

"If you really think about Conor McGregor's legacy, the guy was known for having opponents pull out of fights and then him saying, 'I don't care,'" Chandler said. "Dana, figure out who I'm fighting and I'm going to go train. You let me know when I get done training. That has been his legacy.

"This sport moves fast, man. This sport is the most beautiful sport in the world. You love it because of the parity. You love it because of the stories. You love it because of the ups and the downs and the craziness that happens. This is the sport that I chose and I've been very adamant and very vocal. I chose this as well, alright? I'm not mad at Conor, I'm not mad at the UFC. I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at the media. I'm not mad at anybody who has naysayed me or questioned my decisions [to wait] over the last year and a half. I am taking this squarely on my chest. I am the man who chose to wait that long and then sign the contract and then him pull out.

"It's unfortunate," he concluded. "You can use the word 'unfortunate' if the fight never happens, but I was told that the fight is that he's coming back in 2025, and I got the first bite at that apple."