UFC 309: Michael Chandler Sounds Off on Conor McGregor, Rematch vs. Charles Oliveira
It's not the title for which he's clamored.
Michael Chandler has never been the UFC's best pound-for-pound fighter nor has he exited a cage with one of the promotion's shiny championship belts slung over his shoulder.
But he's still the company's top man when it comes to something else: rematches.
When the 38-year-old lightweight climbs the steps at Madison Square Garden to reengage with Charles Oliveira on Saturday night, it won't be the first time he's run one back.
It'll be the seventh.
The Missouri-born and Tennessee-based lightweight arrived to the biggest show in mixed martial arts four years ago having fought 26 times in a decorated pro career that stretches back to 2009, with 12 of those bouts having come in pairs against six opponents.
An odd stat, for sure. But it's one, as he told Bleacher Report, that Chandler deems a positive as his second go-round with Oliveira, the UFC's all-time leader in both submissions and finishes, approaches.
"When you have fought a guy once, even if you lost, they felt your presence, they felt your pressure, they felt your speed, they felt your gifts that you have," he said. "I still have all of those gifts. I just have a couple of things that I need to tweak."
It'll take some real tweaking to reverse the result—a second-round TKO for Oliveira—that came in the main event at UFC 262 and ended with the Brazilian veteran in possession of what had been a 155-pound title vacated by the retirement of Khabib Nurmagomedov.
But it's not as if he hasn't done it before.
In fact, Chandler has won each of his last four rematches since 2015, including a unanimous five-round decision over Brent Primus in late 2018 that reversed the result of their first bout—won by Primus via first-round TKO by leg kicks—just 18 months earlier.
He'd beaten David Rickels and Patricky Freire in return bouts before the Primus series and has handled Benson Henderson in a second fight since, finishing each of the familiar foes with punches in a combined 12 minutes, 27 seconds.
"It's a double-edged sword with the rematches, whether you win or lose," Chandler said. "Now I will say I always would rather be the guy who lost the first fight than the guy who won the first fight because it's a win-win situation for me, and he's got everything to lose.
"There's a lot more pressure on him to beat me a second time than there is for me to get the win. So I like that about rematches, and I'm excited to go out there and beat him."
Lest anyone forget, Chandler got to the brink of a championship win in the initial date with Oliveira, rocking him with a left hand and chasing a guillotine choke in the first round before finishing the session with another hard flurry and a volley of heavy ground strikes.
Early in the second round, though, it was Chandler who got clipped and stopped in 19 seconds.
"I know exactly what I did wrong in the Oliveira fight the first time," he said.
"I know exactly what I need to do, and exactly what I need to not do. He's got a lot of strength. He's a dangerous guy. He's got the most submission wins in UFC history for a reason. So we've just got to go out there and stick to our game plan, be disciplined, be a disciplined veteran, and systematically and surgically break him down until he looks for the exit sign.
"And I get the finish."
If it happens that way, it'll be the product of something besides rematch savvy, too: rest and relaxation.
The Oliveira fight will be Chandler's first in 735 days since he tapped out to Dustin Poirier's rear-naked choke at UFC 281 in 2022. It's by far the longest stretch of inactivity since he began fighting for pay as a 23-year-old for the Missouri-based First Blood promotion.
And though much of the time on the sidelines was thanks to an on-off and ultimately scrapped bout with Ultimate Fighter coaching rival Conor McGregor, the former Bellator lightweight champion says it also gave him time to reinvigorate a body battered by activity.
"The greatest gift that the Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler saga gave me was time off," he said. "Twenty-six months. The first 26 months after I signed with the UFC organization I had six training camps, fights of the nights, fights of the year. Title fights every single fight, do or die, every single fight. Top-five, top-three guys. Scary, scary fights."
Prior to this respite, the longest break in his career had been eight months and 13 days between a first-round KO of Akihiro Gono in May 2012 at Bellator 67 and a second-round submission of Rick Hawn in January 2013 at Bellator 85.
"I love the sport of mixed martial arts. I am grateful to be able to do it, but it'll take its toll on you, and it'll beat you down to your knees," Chandler said. "I was at a place where I needed a bit of time off, so I think the time off is going to help me in this contest, in this opportunity more than any kind of ring rust or not being in there for the last couple of years.
"So that's what I'm looking forward to. Maybe that's just my confidence and expectancy and ignorance is bliss. But I'm going to go in there and get my hand raised."
If he does, don't expect the storylines to end anytime soon.
Chandler doesn't rule out the idea that a fight with McGregor will occur one day, and, unlike what he says many assume, there is no animosity from his side toward the fiery Irishman.
Particularly because of what their scuttled fight became.
"If a perceived bad thing happens but a good thing comes from it, was it really a bad thing?" he said. "It was a long time waiting. But if your status and platform can grow, if your bank account continues to fill and more people know you, and you're able to go out and do things outside of just getting punched in the head for a living every single day constantly on the grind and you get a fight like this—No. 1 contender fight, co-main event against the No. 2 guy in the world, co-main event at the world's most iconic arena underneath Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title—that's a pretty good scenario to be in."
And it won't be his last.
A win over the second-ranked Oliveira would vault Chandler back toward the top of the lightweight ranks, where Islam Makhachev has reigned since he choked out the then-champ at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi.
A Makhachev defense against No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan is reportedly in the works for early next year, which would leave that winner next in line for Chandler as he works toward one last career-defining and legacy-sealing objective.
He wants to be the oldest lightweight champ in the promotion's history, a mark now held by Sean Sherk, who was 33 when he defeated Kenny Florian at UFC 64 in 2006.
"I was going to be retired by the time I was 35, but here I am, 38," he said. "I think I will be 39 years old by the time I fight Islam, Arman, whoever it is. And that's what I'm going for. I've always looked at it like I want to be a guy who changes the narrative and changes the mold of what a fighter is. They say, 'Man, I didn't know a fighter, a guy who fights in a cage for a living could be that way,' and age is no different.
"So I'm excited to go out there and compete at 38, and I can't wait to win the title at 39. Hold the title at 39, maybe, maybe still be holding the title by 40."
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