Michael Chandler He quickly earned a reputation in the UFC for staging some of the promotion’s most exciting fights. But after coming across Dustin Poirier in his last outing, his chances of becoming champion took another significant hit.
When he first signed as a free agent after an illustrious Bellator MMA career, Chandler was laser-focused on winning a UFC title to cement his legacy as one of the greatest. lightweights in mixed martial arts history. He’s since racked up four post-fight bonuses in five appearances to win the UFC, but he also sports a 2-3 Octagon record, with all three losses to fighters now ahead of Chandler in the standings.
UFC welterweight Matte brown He knows a thing or two about the expectations that come with a reputation for fan-friendly fights, but it comes at a cost — as Chandler discovered.
“He has to correct his strategy,” Brown said of Chandler on MMA Fighting’s The Fighter vs The Writer. “In my particular style, that’s how I fight. That’s how I beat the guys. I go in, wear them down, make it a tough fight, a bit like Dustin Poirier. We go in, we make it dirty, we make it filthy, and the guys are exhausted and overwhelmed by it.
“Now Michael Chandler, we have a feeling – at least me and you and the people watching – he doesn’t have to do this. He fights for the fans. There are basically two different ways to fight. Want do you fight for the fans or do you want to fight for yourself and win?”
With his pedigree in wrestling and a powerful ground and pound game, Chandler has shown his dominance over his opponents in many past fights without engaging in back-and-forth wars.
Of course, Chandler has also been in plenty of fights – including all five UFC fights – and that led to UFC President. Dana White comparing him to boxer Arturo Gatti, whose career was defined by staging breathtaking, action-packed wars.
Brown understands the comparison, but as a lifelong boxing enthusiast, he also remembers Gatti as a puncher who could absorb a huge amount of punishment, but faced huge odds when facing the best of best throughout his career.
A perfect example came in 2005 when Gatti faced 28-year-old Floyd Mayweather, who unleashed an absolutely savage beating while beating Gatti 168-41 en route to a merciful sixth-round stoppage once the towel was thrown in by Gatti . corner.
“Floyd cut it easy,” Brown said of the fight. It’s exactly that. Gatti never developed these skills. It’s a bit different from Gatti and Chandler. I think Chandler, as much of a compliment as he should be compared to Arturo Gatti, [with] Chandler, we see the ability to go out there and win titles. I think most of us assume, we don’t know for sure, but we guess he probably could have beaten Dustin Poirier with some smart strategy. But he’s playing Dustin Poirier’s strategy. He plays Justin Gaethjestrategy when he does that.
When he goes out there and flies away like that. Does that mean you’re going to lose every time? No, because it often works for him too, but what you’re doing is you’re playing this guy’s game. Get them out of their game if you can. A lot of guys don’t have the ability to do that. There are guys they are stuck with.
If Chandler resigns himself to being an entertaining fighter willing to play it safe to win every time, he’ll remain a staple on pay-per-views and continue to earn praise for his performances, but that could lower his chances of becoming a UFC champ.
With his eight post-fight bonuses, Brown appreciates Chandler’s style, but he also thinks the former Bellator champion could be the best lightweight in the sport if he chooses to fight a different way.
Why do we remember Gatti? The wars. Why do we remember Mayweather? No wars,” Brown said. We remember him to replenish people. That’s all my review here. Don’t knock on Michael Chandler, love the guy, love his style and love everything about him. It’s his career, he can do whatever he wants. But what I see is his dominant’s ability to go out there and be that champion, and he just chooses not to.
He chooses to be Arturo Gatti when he could be Floyd Mayweather. Whether that’s true or false, we’ll have to see if he ever changes his style, but that’s what it seems to me to be his own choice.
Brown points the same finger at himself for falling into these tendencies throughout his own career, where he was often embroiled in these epic wars.
That may be exactly the legacy Chandler wants to leave behind, but Brown believes he could accomplish so much more if he wanted to.
“People like winners more than they like brawlers or anything,” Brown said. “I could kick myself for that too. I probably could have set up a few times and just separated people or used a little wrestling, but that’s what people will remember in the end – the winner. That’s why people talk so much about Floyd, because he keeps winning. What does Floyd talk about all the time? How he wins. That’s all he talks about. That’s what people are going to care about.
“If you have the ability to do it and you say you want to be a champion, then go for it. You don’t have to please anybody. Now if he just wants to come out and please the fans, that’s it. is good too. We like that. You will continue to get top billings on pay-per-views. You continue to make amazing fights, Michael. We like that. But you kind of have to decide your strategy and what what you want to get out of it.
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