What's Next for "IRON" Michael Chandler??

Michael Chandler had one hell of a night at UFC 274 when he flatlined KO’d seventh ranked legend Tony Ferguson. Going into the fight he had a ton of hype around him, in every UFC fight he’d been in so far, he’s been electric. However, he was 2-2 in the UFC coming into UFC 274, and was desperately looking for a win. With that being said, the quote stands true, “it’s not how you start… it’s how you finish”. Chandler lost the first round on all judges' scorecards and Tony seemed to be finding his old self, which could have been bad news for Chandler. Ultimately, Iron Mike scores the win in dramatic or should I say spectacular fashion.

The man interviewing him, Joe Rogan, who is very well respected in the fight game said this about the post-fight interview,

“Oh, my God. That was the one. When I interviewed him after the fight, it was the best ever post-fight speech I've ever heard in my life. He's screaming "Conor McGregor!" He's amazing at it. He prepares for his speeches the way he does everything. The way he trains, the way he fights. He's just an animal. He's smart too. Very smart. Very well prepared”.

Mcgregor wasn’t the only name he called out in that speech, he rattled off the names of Charlie Olives and Justin Gaethje who were fighting on the same night.

Now let’s break this down. I think the callouts to Oliveria and Gaethje were good safety net call outs. It allows him to put his name publicly back in the title fight conversation or at least one fight away. Many fighters' only goals are to get back to that title fight and hopefully win it, however we are living in some crazy times where most of the fighters want to fight that one southpaw from Ireland who smokes “big blunts”. He brings in the money, the attention, and the fame, but you still have to get in the octagon with him. The real call out Chandler had was to McGregor where he mentioned fighting at 170. This isn’t bad for Chandler because he’s had his success in fighting, won belts, and has had insane level finishes there before. The money fight with the Mac isn’t the only fight he’d take, of course there are still title aspirations, but if this opportunity is there for the taking, why not at least try?

He is getting older, 36 years old. It is a common trait as people get older they tend to slowly move up classes to help with the cuts. Chandler has talked about his weight cuts and he said that he weighs 155lbs for only a couple minutes of his life and that is right before the official weigh ins. He cuts down to 155 and right when he sees the golden number, he runs out on stage and weighs in then walks backstage and continues to bulk back up. Going back to Joe Rogan's comments about his speech, he also talked about the size of chandler and how big he looked in the cage. Rogan estimated him to be weighing about 180+ in there. So the callout to McGregor kind of all lines up to make sense on Chandler's side. His side isn’t the problem though, we all know he is game to fight these guys and what not, but he isn’t the man in position to call shots, everyone that he wants to fight is either higher than him in the rankings or on the popularity scale (with Conor). Conor kind of picks and chooses who he fights at this point of his career. Gaethje has made a hiatus before, so after a loss of this caliber I wouldn’t be surprised if he went in hiding for a little bit. Oliveria is going to be busy with Beneil Dariush or Islam Mackachev, so that call out is looking dim. That only leaves us with Conor, but like I said Conor could look at the fight offer and throw it out the window of the Lamborghini yacht. I believe there are a couple options here for Chandler. He is not going to fight down in the rankings (unless it’s Conor), and he won’t fight Gaethje or Oliveria, so there is a possibility of fighting the loser of Dariush/Makechev, but my prediction is that Chandler’s next fight is with… #2 ranked Dustin Poirier. Poirier is coming off a loss in the title fight and is looking to bounce back. Chandler , I don’t think deserves a title shot next, but this could be a fight to get to the title fight, which Poirier has said is his number one goal. Don’t buy the Dustin and Nate hype. He isn’t a drama guy he just happened to get caught up in the Conor trilogy and got the most exposure he’s ever gotten. I kind of think of Conor nowadays as more of a celebrity than a fighter, but don’t share that same thought with Poirier, he is a dog that wants the belt. He was interim champ. But never undisputed, and that means something to these guys. He wants back in the title picture and I think a fight between him and Iron Mike is the recipe we are looking for.

Super early prediction for that fight: Poirier TKO. Go look back at chandlers fights, he leaves that chin out there and always ends up on his ass and that fight week will have millions of eyes on it. The energy might leave him all jittery and Poirier has some of the cleanest boxing in the UFC!