Michael Chandler made the biggest impact possible on his first appearance in the Octagon by dispatching Dan Hooker in three minutes with a violent knockout at UFC 257.
Subsequently, UFC president Dana White rated Chandler’s performance – and his emphatic post-fight interview – possibly the best debut in the organization’s history. Given the impact Chandler had, along with Dustin Poirier’s big win over Conor McGregor in the UFC 257 main event, it looked like the two lightweights were on a collision course with the potentially crowned winner as the new lightweight champion.
With the retirement of lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov and showing no signs of an imminent return, the UFC will undoubtedly seek to move the division forward. But Poirier defeated a fight against Chandler, calling himself the 155-pound crownless champion.
Poirier has already doubled for lack of enthusiasm to face the former Bellator champion, even though the UFC puts the lightweight title at stake.
“I think it’s a little bit weird,” Chandler told MMA Fighting as he reacted to Poirier’s comments. “No matter what happens, who I was before UFC 257 is very different in the eyes of the fans, the media, the ranking of what I am now after UFC 257.
“With the dominant performance I did against a guy that I finished in two and a half minutes it took him 25 minutes to win the decision. But Dustin Poirier is a champion in his own right. I believe he should be half the picture of the lightweight title, and it remains to be seen who he will be. Dana White came right away and said, ‘Dude, Chandler’s performance, Poirier’s performance, it seems like it makes sense for those two to fight for the title next.’ “
It is impossible to look into the lightweight division and not put Poirier as one of the two best fighters available to crown a champion now that Nurmagomedov has left. Unfortunately, it seems that he is not very interested at the moment, even suggesting the UFC Chandler book against Charles Oliveira for the lightweight title.
Chandler can’t pretend to know what’s going on inside Poirier’s head, so he won’t make any assumptions. But he also can’t force the former interim champion to fight him if he doesn’t want to.
“You hear Poirier talking about the trilogy fight with Conor, which we all know will probably not be for the title,” explained Chandler. “So in one sense he says he wants to be a champion, but in the other sense he’s talking, let’s be honest, money fights, eye fights, pay-per-view fights. He’s talking about the notorious fights. So you have to find out what it is – do you want to be the champion, or do you want to have more eyes, make more money?
“For me, given the landscape, or if you asked me that question, it is not necessarily an easy decision, but I think I would tend to get that gold. Because with gold comes everything else. “
Even before his UFC debut, Chandler paid tribute to all the lightweights in the category, including Poirier, with whom he agreed to fight shortly after signing with the promotion.
Obviously, the confrontation never happened, but Chandler’s admiration for Poirier has not changed, even though it appears that “The Diamond” is not interested in a possible fight.
“He can have his opinion,” said Chandler. “Even though he says that I don’t really deserve it, I understand where he’s coming from. He has a fight in his 20s in the UFC, I have one. I have two and a half minutes in the UFC essentially. I understand what he is saying, but I have won my way in the sport in the last 12 years, in the last 27 fights. Many dominant victories, tons of submissions in the first round, tons of exciting fights.
“We will see where the chips end up, but I know that the top four are fighting for position and two of us should be fighting for that lightweight belt, with luck this summer, if not in the fall.”
Poirier’s stance of allowing the lightweight to crown a new champion without him getting involved may be just the heat of the moment, after many believe his fight against McGregor should have ended with his belt win.
If Poirier is not really interested in fighting for the title, Chandler will be happy to face the next opponent in line, but he will not stop fighting for UFC gold if the offer is made to him.
“He said that if they want Chandler to fight for the title, he will sell hot sauce and, in fact, he could end up just being a hot sauce seller for the next six months, because I think the title photo will continue,” he said Chandler. “I am not saying that I will be half of that, but I know that life is made up of opportunities.
“Life is about saying yes. Life is about performance, especially in this sector. I said yes to every opportunity. I said yes at the drop of a hat with the UFC thinking, ‘Gee, this guy is a little crazy about saying yes to that, but I love it.’ “
For everything he has achieved during his career at Bellator, including three different stints as a champion, Chandler is unable to make UFC lightweights recognize his general body of work, but he also will not put himself at the end of the line to appease someone else.
“As I said, I’m here to make an impact; I’m here to make a statement, ”said Chandler. “I did it at UFC 257 and now all I can do is feel a little strange. I think for UFC fans and for the UFC media and for the UFC bosses and the UFC team, everyone immediately adopted me as one of their own. Everyone said, ‘This is the guy, this guy is legit, this guy is a candidate who can win the title this year.’ But you are not seeing this about the Poiriers, the Gaethjes, the Oliveiras, the top guys. You are not seeing this from Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. You are not seeing this from these guys, and everything is fine.
“I’m here to continue to deserve, to continue to prove, but I know that the UFC title disputes don’t happen very easily, so if I have this opportunity, or if these other guys don’t take the opportunity, they can be rejected and the guy the account could be called Michael Chandler. “