‘Every single one of them in the top-five, said no’ – Michael Chandler reveals how hard it was for him to get a fight!

‘Every single one of them in the top-five, said no’ – Michael Chandler reveals how hard it was for him to get a fight!
Michael Chandler
Michael Chandler

Michael Chandler is just a week away from making his much anticipated UFC debut. He takes on Dan Hooker at UFC 257, on the 23rd of January, the same day, Conor McGregor makes his return to the octagon against Dustin Poirier. ‘Iron’ Mike joined the UFC quite a while ago, (On September 17, 2020) but, landing a fight was quite a problem for the Bellator Legend. The fight against Tony Ferguson fell through, and what’s more, the American even recently revealed that he had a really hard time, finding an opponent.

Speaking to TSN, in an interview, Michael Chandler disclosed how all the top ranked fighters said no to fighting him, until he found an opponent in number 6 ranked Dan Hooker. Chandler also justified how it was right on the fighters’ part to decline his challenge, since he was just an ‘outsider’.

Michael Chandler was quoted as saying, “Obviously I wanted to fight, two, three, four, or five before I fought number six. But, beggars can’t be choosers, Dan Hooker was the guy who said yes when everyone else said no. Here we go, January 23 we get a great opportunity, I’m excited about it.”

“Every single one of them in the top-five, besides Conor. They all, and rightfully so. These guys have cut their teeth in this organization. These guys, everybody in the top-five have fought in the UFC’s lightweight division for five to ten years, these guys have put their time in, their blood, sweat, and tears. I realize I was an outsider, a newcomer, a darkhorse. I realize nobody wanted to really be the first guy who stepped into that Octagon with me, I completely get it.“

Michael Chandler will have to dig deep, in order to overcome the tough-as-nails Dan Hooker, who is coming off a war against Dustin Poirier, which he ultimately lost via unanimous decision.

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