While it might appear that Michael Chandler wasted valuable years of his MMA career waiting on a Conor McGregor fight that has yet to materialize, the former Bellator MMA champion has a different perspective on that time away.
“Having that much time off, I needed it. I really needed it,” Chandler told the New York Post. “Six training camps in a 26-month period, every single fight was do or die — Top 3, Top 5 guy, world title fights, fights of the night, fights of the year. And I love the sport; I am so blessed to do the sport of mixed martial arts as a professional and get paid for it and feed my family with it, but it was taking a toll on me. I needed some time off.”
Chandler hasn’t competed since November 2022, when he suffered a third-round submission loss against Dustin Poirier at UFC 281. He was then booked to coach opposite McGregor on “The Ultimate Fighter 31,” seemingly setting the stage for a big-ticket fight after the show. However, the bout was delayed time and time again, and Chandler eventually decided to move on after the Irish star pulled out of their booking at UFC 303 on the week of the fight due to a toe injury.
Instead, Chandler will face Charles Oliveira in the co-main event at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The former University of Missouri wrestler is eager to get another shot at “do Bronx” after falling to the Brazilian via second-round TKO in a 155-pound title bout at UFC 262. Chandler took the fight against Oliveira approximately four months after a first-round stoppage of Dan Hooker in his Octagon debut.
“I had almost no time to really process and build and grow,” Chandler said. “I’m 38 years old. I was 34 back then, but I’m still growing. We’re all still growing as human beings, and I just wasn’t where I needed to be. I went in there very confident. I put in a great training camp, but I went out there to try to kill Charles Oliveira in the first second of the first round — 10-8’d him in the first round — and I just wasn’t able to keep that pace.
“I made a bad decision, put myself in some bad spots. I wasn’t fighting to the best of my ability, and I’ve since fixed all of those things, mainly mentally and spiritually.”
UFC 309: Jones vs Miocic. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
Dating back to his Bellator tenure, Chandler is 0-3 at Madison Square Garden, a fact of which he is painfully aware. However, he is also grateful to be given another chance to compete at the renowned venue.
“It’s a huge blessing to be considered for the Madison Square Garden card,” Chandler said. “They don’t just throw anybody on the Madison Square Garden card. The UFC puts guys and gals on the fight card that are going to put on a great show.”
Chandler believes everything is in place for him to not only break his MSG curse, but avenge his previous loss to Oliveira.
“It’s going to be a masterful performance. And I think I’m going to surgically and systematically break this man down until he looks for the exit sign, and I’m going to go out there and I’m going to finish,” Chandler said.
“This version of me, Chandler 2.0, is much different than Chandler 1.0 that he fought at UFC 262 in Houston. And I’m excited to go out there and not just show him that but show the entire world.”
