UFC lightweight fighter Michael Chandler recently suffered defeat at the hands of Charles Oliveira after a long time away from the octagon.
The bout took place at UFC 309 and was the rematch battler after the fighters crashed in 2021. Unfortunately for Chandler, he couldn’t redeem himself and suffered another loss via a second-round TKO. The fight was Chandler’s first since his hiatus from MMA as he awaits the return of McGregor for their epic battle. However, it seems the fighter may not be fully ready for the matchup with the Irishman after all.
The bout was a great show of tenacity and sportsmanship as both fighters rocked each other with heavy punches but Oliveira had the upper hand throughout most of the fight. Chandler managed to pull through during the final round and landed punches that almost fell Oliveira. By then, it was already too late. The fight took a toll on Chandler not only career-wise but body-wise as he suffered a knee injury in the first round.
“I am not happy with my performance,” Chandler told Ariel Helwani on Wednesday. “I would give myself a two out of 10. Cannot overstate how horrible a performance this was or sthe et of circumstances it was after that first round, compared to what my vision was for what I am capable of. But, I believe I beat Charles Oliveira nine times out of 10.
“Obviously, I’ve lost to him twice now. Two out of two. I have a 100 percent loss rate. So I understand why people might tsk at that and roll their eyes at that, but I’m so unhappy with my performance. I’m so excited to get healthy. And, I’m so excited to give the fans and my supporters and everyone else out there the performance that they deserve. …
“It just was not the performance that I wanted, and it really sucks.”
The fighter disclosed that the injury hindered his performance during the fight. He says the injury made him slow to move and react to shots.
“I’m disappointed,” he said. “I could replay the fight a thousand times in my head, and I could have made some different decisions.
“Something happened to the leg in that first grappling exchange, actually. Pretty sure I ripped the MCL almost off the bone and tore the meniscus. And I keep remembering in the fight … [I told my corner early,] ‘Guys, I can’t get my footing. I don’t know what’s going on with my footing. And,I kept putting water under my feet, getting sweat on my feet, trying to get more grip. But, I just couldn’t get my footing underneath me. It turns out I did something to that left leg in that first round. Two minutes [in], three minutes, or whatever it was, and I just wasn’t able to really put a lot of weight on it.
“I hate these looking back excuses,” Chandler added. “I’m not an excuses kind of guy. What happens in the fight game happens and it’s a learn-on-the-fly type of scenario. I wasn’t able to learn enough on the fly to continue to change the game plan and switch things up.”
Although Chandler believes he gave as good as he got, his opponent believed Chandler cheated his way through the fight. After their epic showdown, Oliveira released a statement calling Chandler a cheat and saying he took many liberties and illegal shots that weren’t marked by the referee. Chandler vehemently refuted these accusations and was pretty annoyed by them.
“I was a lot happier before I watched the fight than I was after I watched the fight,” Chandler said. “Not necessarily the fight itself, just the commentary, watching it on TV compared to being in the arena. If you were there that night, a lot of people were wowed by it. They loved it, it was an awesome fight. But watching it on TV wasn’t as appealing to me.
“A little bit of the commentary, when it comes to some of the stuff that they were saying. The misinterpretation of what the back of the head is by the unified rules of MMA. The misinterpretation of what ‘cage-grabbing’ is, and a couple of different things. It’s all water under the bridge at this point, but more than anything, I’m an honest guy. I try to live pretty full of integrity and full of honesty and a narrative that has been painted is not very interesting to me. I’m not very happy about it. But it’s all a part of it.
“I’m not going to say I didn’t do anything wrong,” Chandler continued. “I’m not going to say that people couldn’t look at it and splice it and look at it under a fine-toothed comb and a magnifying glass. However, the unified rules of MMA say there is a line drawn from the crown of the head down to the neck. Once-inch variance on either side. So you’re talking about a two-inch area on the back of someone’s head that is considered the back of the head. And if you watch, 90 percent of the shots, at least, most of them, almost all of them — or at least where I was aiming — all of them, my hand, my fist was catching the ear. So if you’re catching the ear, that is not the back of the head.”
This isn’t the first time Chandler has been accused of dirty fighting. In his fight with Dustin Poirier, Chandler was accused of fish-hooking Poirier’s mouth but he lost the bout afterward. Despite these many accusations, it doesn’t seem his “cheating” ways are helping him out. Chandler has lost every fighter he has been accused of cheating in and is currently at 2-4 in his professional record.
“A referee who was two-feet away never said one thing about it. Then you’ve got commentators who are 35 feet away, saying it’s the back of the head and other people saying it’s the back of the head. Just like the Poirier fight.”
Regardless of these rumors, Chandler is fully focused on facing McGregor and he believes the fighter will happen in 2025. If it does come to fruition, it will be a big break for Chandler–If he wins. For now, the fight says he has recovered from his knee injury and is currently training and getting ready for his bout in 2025. He regrets he wasn’t able to do better in his bout withy Oliveira, but he is thankful for the opportunity.
“I am so excited to get healthy. I am so excited to give the fans and my supporters and everyone else out there the performance that they deserve,” Chandler said. “And my coaches. Henri Hooft and Robbie Lawler and these guys they pour their lives into me. It just was not the performance that I wanted.”
