Michael Chandler claims he always could cut fantastic promos on the mic, but he wanted to wait until he joined the UFC to unleash them.
Chandler faced Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 274 and knocked out the former interim champion with a vicious front kick knockout. Following the fight, the former Bellator lightweight champion demanded a rematch with the card’s primary event winner — Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje — or a fight with the sport’s biggest celebrity, Conor McGregor.
Chandler was asked where he learned that skill on The MMA Hour.
“I wasn’t legitimately putting myself in the position to be the No. 1 fighter in the world, therefore, I didn’t want to show my complete skill set,” Chandler said on The MMA Hour. “It’s hard because I don’t want to ever speak about Bellator, or where I was previously, in a non-positive light. I love Bellator, I love Scott Coker, I loved that I came up in that organization. But it’s really hard to cut a promo like that and talk about becoming the best fighter in the world when you’re not fighting the best fighters in the world.
“Sorry, Bellator does not have the best fighters in the world. There might be one or two outliers within that organization, but it’s just the truth.”
“The fighters in the UFC are the premier fighters on the planet.” – Michael Chandler on the difference in the level of fighters in the UFC compared to Bellator
Chandler, Coker, and Bellator have no animosity toward one other. Even though he lost on his way to signing with the UFC in 2020, the one-time UFC championship challenger didn’t feel the platform was big enough to offer his somewhat undiscovered gift of entertainment value.
“I got a text on my phone from Scott Coker right now. He and I still speak and we are as close as they come,” Chandler explained. “I’m very thankful for my history in the organization, but it’s really hard to get on a microphone and tell people I’m the most entertaining fighter in the world when I’m not fighting in the premier organization. We can all admit — and if you don’t admit, you’re either a hater or you don’t know the sport — that the UFC is the premier organization. The fighters in the UFC are the premier fighters on the planet.
Chandler screamed about the three people he’d like to see in the octagon next at UFC 274, though there’s been a bit of a flip-flop after the way the event ended. With Oliveira’s first-round stoppage of Gaethje, “Do Bronx” is now the No. 1 contender for the title and will fight an opponent to be decided later this year for the vacant belt.
With Oliveira and McGregor still on the team, Nate Diaz has entered the conversation.
“I knew I wanted to talk about Charles. because everyone wants to see me rematch Charles. I knew I was going to talk about Gaethje in case he had won, and I knew I wanted to talk about Conor because I’m the most electrifying and entertaining guy in the sport,” Chandler explained. “It would be a huge pay-per-view if he comes back, and now everybody’s talking about me and Diaz — which I thought would be a phenomenal fight for the last year or so, so it’ll be interesting. There’s some big fights on the horizon.
“My goal is still to win that title so I feel like I could still be next for Charles or maybe [Islam] Makhachev gets that title shot, but if that’s the case I still have some big fights ahead of me.”
