Issue 210

October 2024

In an exclusive interview with author Kyle Dimond for Fighters Only, Michael Chandler reveals his transformation ahead of UFC 309, where he's set to swap blood-soaked battles for golden glory in a highly anticipated rematch with Charles Oliveira.

At UFC 309, Michael Chandler returns to the Octagon nearly two years after his last outing. The former title challenger certainly hasn’t been out of the limelight during his break from competition. Still, he has been able to make some significant changes during the downtime. Chandler believes that in his rematch with Charles Oliveira at the world’s most famous arena, we will see a new and improved version of the all-action fighter that fans have come to love. An epiphany brought about this change in mindset during his hiatus. He realized becoming a world champion was his ultimate goal, and he hasn’t given himself the best chance to realize that dream.

BEING THE BEST

In January of 2021, Michael Chandler would make his UFC debut after years of questions about whether he would ever make the jump from Bellator. ‘Iron Mike’ made it clear he was in the UFC for a good time, not a long one. The fastest way to catch up was to jump in at the deep end by facing Dan Hooker as the co-main event to Conor McGregor’s rematch with Dustin Poirier. A recurring theme of his entire career is betting on himself. From the moment he arrived in the UFC, it was all or nothing.

“I think more than anything, I came in as a 34-year-old salty veteran,” he told Fighters Only. “I sat down with Hunter Campbell (UFC’s Chief Business Officer) before my first fight, and I said, 'Hey, I want to prove either I am who I say I am or I'm not, so I want to fight the toughest guys right away.' The UFC obliged, and they threw me into the shark-infested waters of the top of the lightweight division, and then the rest is history.”

The UFC rolled the dice on Chandler, and at UFC 257, they scored. The former Bellator star stopped Hooker in the first round, and in his post-fight interview, he called out the likes of Poirier, McGregor and Nurmagomedov. Though he didn’t get any of those fights, his stoppage against ‘The Hangman’ set him up to be one-half of the vacant lightweight title fight. Chandler’s gamble allowed him to shoot right into a UFC title fight in just his second Octagon appearance. He risked his reputation but came away with a winning hand.

THE MUST-SEE TV ERA

This glory-or-death approach defines his five UFC fights. In all but one of those fights, he brought back a bonus check for performance or fight of the night. From one of the most memorable debuts of all time to a classic war with Justin Gaethje to his show-stealing front-kick knockout of Tony Ferguson, everything Chandler does is unmissable. Despite proving himself to be one of the most electrifying competitors in all combat sports, Chandler says it was never intentional.

"I truly believe I've never once gone into competition and thought, hey, I'm only here to entertain,” Chandler revealed. “I've never once stepped into the Octagon, looked around at the 20,000 people, and said, 'Wait till you see what I'm about to do.' It's always been just a byproduct of who I am and my fight style. I do have a do-or-die type of mentality. I am not afraid to put myself in bad positions to maybe have a glimmer of hope that something good may come out of it, and I think that's why the fans love me. I think that's why I'm must-see TV, that's why I put butts in seats in arenas, and that's why people buy PPVs.”

However, during his time away from the Octagon, one of the UFC’s most reliable entertainers came to some conclusions. 

“It's been a lot of fun, a lot of fights of the night, a lot of bonuses, lot of bloodshed, but at first, I was out for blood. Now I'm out for the title."

THE IRISH INTERVAL 

In February 2023, Chandler and McGregor started to film the 31st season of The Ultimate Fighter as rival coaches. Not only would ‘The Notorious’ be making his long-awaited return, but it would also be against one of the UFC’s most exciting fighters. However, one central question loomed overhead: when? Their planned fight was constantly delayed, and when it became clear he’d be waiting until early 2025 to share the Octagon, he made the call to move on. Again, he bet on himself by potentially missing out on the biggest fight after remaining patient for so long. However, Chandler doesn't hold any grudges or regrets. During a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, he explained how he took positives from this enforced time off. Not only was he constantly pushing himself to the limit, but he also wasn’t giving himself time to reflect. Chandler went through a change after suddenly being given a lot of time to work on himself without having a date at the end of the tunnel. 

“I think I have been underperforming big time as a professional athlete for as long as I can remember, and I've really had this mindset shift, I've really been journaling a lot about it,” he said. “I've really been doing some soul searching of exactly who is Michael Chandler? What does he stand for? And does the way he lives his life, does the way that he trains and, the discipline and the stick-to-itiveness and the persistence that he has and shows on a daily basis, is that actually coming out and being shown on fight night? And I think that answer is no in a lot of my fights.” 

When he returns at Madison Square Garden on November 16, Michael Chandler has the perfect opportunity to correct his mistakes.

SHATTERED DREAMS REGAIN THEIR SHAPE

At UFC 309, he will face Charles Oliveira in a rematch. After coming close to stopping the Brazilian at UFC 262, ‘Do Bronx’ rallied in the second round, stopping his opponent and winning the vacant title. After questions surrounding his resilience and heart, he weathered a storm in the opening round but returned stronger in the second. This would become the trait of Oliveira’s victories over Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. The three lightweights Oliveira beat in a row are famous for dishing out damage and being incredibly resilient. What makes this period of Oliveira’s career so impressive is that he beat all three of them at their own game. 

“Charles is a smart, smart fighter and a very talented fighter,” says Chandler. “He was the champion for a reason, and if anything, him going on the run he did, beating Poirier, beating Gaethje, it only legitimizes everybody that he has fought who had beat him and even the guys like me who had a 10-8 round against him in the first round and then lost in the second. You couldn't have scripted it any better. 

“Charles Oliveira stole my dream of being the best fighter in the world. That's been my goal since I was 22 years old, in 2009, when I started this journey and the word stole might not be the right word, but he shattered my dreams because he beat me fair and square, and now it just couldn't have been scripted any better. I beat Charles Oliveira. He's got wins over Poirier and Gaethje, my two only other losses inside of the UFC. Every single fight that I've had has been do or die, and that's the kind of guy Charles Oliveira is.”

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

One of the most memorable moments in his first fight with Oliveira is when Chandler made an ill-advised move. After one of the most dangerous submission artists in the sport's history took his back, Chandler executed a back body drop, which slammed his opponent into the canvas. This only served to put him deeper into his opponent’s grasp. It’s perhaps the best example of his previous mindset - gambling in the heat of the moment instead of putting his best foot forward. Ultimately, it paid off for him as he escaped the position and started to land damaging strikes. 

“I think it's just maybe I've made my life and living on making ill-advised decisions to find out what happens,” he smiles. “I think that's the spirit of a man. Every man was born for a battle to fight, an adventure to have, and a beauty to win, and I think my fight style personifies that where it's like, hey, I got the ready-shoot-aim mentality where I'm not going to sit there and calculate too much. I'm not gonna aim and get it perfectly. And yeah, it's not smart to give Charles Oliveira your back. And it's definitely not smart to jump to the ground when Charles Oliveira has your back when he's got the most submission wins in UFC history. But I got out of it, and we lived to fight another day. And now we live to win the rematch, and we live to win the title in 2025."

GOLD FEVER 

When he finally had time to reflect on what he could do better, Chandler realized he wasn’t performing to his potential. A simple explanation of this change could be to look at his wild fighting style. Fighting conservatively and using his wrestling background more would mean taking less damage, but this comes back to the theme of gambling on himself. As Chandler told Ariel Helwani, even when he did wrestle more during his Bellator days, his fights were still exciting, so this isn’t likely to change. Fighting less recklessly is undoubtedly part of the new and improved Chandler 2.0, but his strategy in the fights is only one aspect of this reinvigorated athlete. He mentions several factors that prompted him to make a change.

“I think it's legacy,” he says. “I think legacy is this far-off thing that we think about decades from now, but in the here and now, it's more about a happy, a healthy, and a hard-to-kill human being who lays his head on the pillow at night and feels 100% content with who he is, how he operates and what he has accomplished.”

It’s certainly not uncommon for a fighter to return from a lengthy break and promise that they will be the best version of themselves on their return. So, what will be different, aside from his mental focus? He believes the time off has caused a hard reset that wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t spent the best part of two years waiting for a fight. 

THE TEACHINGS OF A FORMER MENTOR

To explain his shift in mindset, the 38-year-old takes a trip down memory lane. Chandler recalls how, during his time at the University of Missouri, he quickly climbed the hierarchy after starting at the bottom of the totem pole. After making the wrestling team, he would do everything he could to improve. He made techniques perfect, outworked others, and ran through brick walls to impress his coach, Brian Smith. Chandler eventually drew the coach's attention, becoming a team captain and, in his own words, being “willing to die on this mat.”

Despite Mike appearing to be the perfect dedicated student, his coach noticed how he could get the best out of him. Rather than being someone who needed an extra push, Chandler needed someone to pull back the reins. Smith would ban him from training for several days, forcing him to take breaks while the rest of the team trained. Though this didn’t sit right with the hungry and motivated athlete, he quickly realized the benefits. 

“He would give me these little breaks, and I would come back rejuvenated, full of gratitude, my body is rested, my mind is rested, my spirit is rested, and I would perform a hundred times better than I was because I put so much pressure on myself,” he says. “Now, at 38 years old, the sport of mixed martial arts Brian Smith'd me and pulled me out of the sport and did the exact same thing that he did, and now I've come back rejuvenated. Chandler 1.0 was out for blood, Chandler 2.0 is out for winning the title, and I'm just full of gratitude.”

With revenge on his mind and gold in his sights, Michael Chandler returns to Madison Square Garden to kickstart the next phase of his career. Beating Charles Oliveira in the co-main event will secure him a title shot in the new year. He’s given fight fans some incredible memories in recent years, but now, he’s solely focused on adding a career-defining one to his legacy.