“I have the exact same goal” – Michael Chandler dishes on the similarity of his and Dustin Poirier’s title ambitions
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Michael Chandler (L), Dustin Poirier (R)
Michael Chandler’s arrival in the UFC had been a long time in the making. He had been the lightweight champion of Bellator before finally being given the chance to come to the UFC.
Things have been up and down for Michael Chandler in the UFC. After his stunning TKO win over Dan Hooker in 2021, he was given the title shot for the vacant belt against Charles Oliveira. However, it was not to be his night – despite being dropped, Oliveira came back to finish Chandler. After a loss to Justin Gaethje and a win over Tony Ferguson, his UFC record stands at 2-2.
Someone who finds himself in a similar boat is Dustin Poirier. The Louisiana native was riding high off of two wins over megastar Conor McGregor, before his title ambitions were stifled for a second time, this time against Charles Oliveira. Poirier has a stellar resume, with two wins over McGregor, a TKO win over Justin Gaethje, and wins over Dan Hooker and Eddie Alvarez.
Speaking of the similarity of their ambition, Michael Chandler recently said, “I think there’s a tug of war between two dudes who’ve got the same goal. His goal is to step in octagon and beat me and get his and get his hand raised and continue to prove that he’s one of the best in the world. I have the exact same goal.”
Michael Chandler dispels there being beef with Dustin Poirier
Clearly, Michael Chandler understands that the match-up with Dustin Poirier could be a title eliminator.
A loss for either one will probably not bode too well for their hopes of being 155 pound champion. Especially for Chandler, who was brought to the UFC with the express hopes of being a bulky juggernaut in the division.
Despite their common goal, Michael Chandler doesn’t believe there is serious beef between the two. They might have had an altercation at UFC 276, but it is his belief that it was just the coming together of two opponents.
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Speaking about it, he said, “There’s some things that have been said. He disrespected me right away and said he’d rather sell hot sauce. I said I’m a bigger draw than him. We’ve said some things that maybe we do believe, maybe we don’t really believe. Maybe it was something we got caught up in the moment on these microphones.”
The pair of them take on each other at UFC 281 in New York. With there being serious implications for the lightweight, expect the bout to have fireworks from the get-go!
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Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)