Michael Chandler has discussed his move from Bellator to the UFC.
It was late 2020 that Michael Chandler, three time Bellator champion made the decision to sign with the UFC. Since switching sides, after almost 10 years with Bellator, Chandler has made 4 appearances in the Octagon with 2 wins and 2 losses to his resume.
Chandler (23-7 MMA) just defeated Tony Ferguson(26-7 MMA) last Saturday night at UFC 274. It was a front kick that dropped Ferguson face first on the canvas just 17 seconds into the second round. Some media and fans alike are calling it the āknockout of the yearā.
It was on a recent appearance on āHow U Livin J Pivenā podcast that Chandler opened up about fight purses in the UFC as compared to Bellator, saying (h/t MMANews):
āYou know what it is? I make more money, (but) I donāt necessarily make more money on paper or in my fights.ā
Continuing to speak about his reputation, Chandler said:
*āWhat Iāve been able to do is ā once again, going back to my reputation, I have been a smaller name, I may have been a guy who was overlooked, I may have been a guy who (people) said, āWell, heās not that legitimate ācause he fights in Bellator,ā but one thing I always did, was I kept a really good reputation. I kept my nose clean, I stayed out of the negative headlines, I was always in the positive headlines, and then my fights spoke for themselves. I was an entertainer.ā*Talking about pay-per-view opportunities āIronā had this to say:
āIt all kinda just built this long-standing rĆ©sumĆ© for when I did come over to the UFC to be the co-main event on Conor (McGregor) vs. (Dustin) Poirierāalmost two million pay-per-view buys, and then I was the main event for a world title fight, and then I was on another huge pay-per-view.ā
Finishing the conversation Chandler concluded:
āThe amount of eyeballs that Iāve been given and afforded by the UFC coincided with this great reputation of being a hard worker, being a man of integrity, being a hard-nosed fighter, being a fighter, a father, a husband. It just meshed perfectly, and Iāve been able to make a lot of money outside the cage and have some great relationships with some great companies and some great people.ā
With Nate Diaz also expressing interest in fighting the former Bellator champ, Chandler was asked if he had a choice between Diaz and Poirier to face next, it would be the former by a long shot.
āIt would be Diaz. I have no interest in fighting Dustin, honestly,ā Chandler said on The MMA Hour . āTo be quite honest, I think heās a great dude. I think I like him for the sport, but I also think I was completely disregarded and pushed aside whenever I came into the organization. He completely disregarded me, he acted as though I didnāt deserve to be where I was.
āMaybe itās a bit more of a personal issue, but I also donāt thinkā¦ is Dustin a draw? I guess heās the No. 2 guy [in the UFC rankings] now, but heās just kind of stayed at No. 2 and I donāt know how active heās going to be. I did see him tweet that I was saying everyone elseās name but his as if I didnāt want to fight him because of technical reasons or what not, but itās more like I forgot about him.ā
The No. 6 ranked lightweight in MMA Fightingās Global Rankings is now 2-2 in his four octagon appearances, with all four contests being incredibly entertaining bouts. Poirier has been known to find himself in a wild battle or two in his own right.
Although it would be an incredibly exciting 155-pound matchup on paper, Chandler is sticking with a āthanks, but no thanksā approach to the fantasy matchmaking.
āHatās off for what heās done in his career and I respect the heck out of him, he makes some great hot sauce,ā Chandler explained. āBut as of right now, I donāt really have any desire to fight him.ā
Calls out the guy that Dustin beat up twice in a rowā¦forgets about Dustin ā¦makes sense
ttt
It makes Dollars not Sense