UFC lightweight contender Michael Chandler believes he fought “23 minutes” of his rematch against Charles Oliveira with a severely compromised leg.
Chandler’s negative Octagon record took further damage at this past weekend’s UFC 309 pay-per-view, where he fell to 2-4 since making the switch from Bellator to the sport’s leading promotion a number of years ago.
In the co-main event at Madison Square Garden, Oliveira added his name to the American’s losing column once again, this time in much more convincing fashion.
While the Brazilian had to mount a memorable comeback to get the better of “Iron” back in 2022, he was on top from the word go when the pair ran it back. And after weathering a late burst from Chandler in round five, “Do Bronx” had his hand raised by way of a lopsided decision.
Given the success and near-title win he had against Oliveira previously, many were expecting more from the ex-Bellator champ. And that was evidently the case for the man himself, who believes he was prevented from competing at his best by a physical issue.
During a recent appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Chandler suggested that an early grappling exchange with Oliveira in the first round injured his knee, thus preventing him from employing his usual forward-pressure style.
I think something happened to the knee in that first exchange when he had the leg and I did that full 360, he did a kneebar thing, because I walked back to the stool and I looked down at my left leg and it was not working right,” Chandler said. “It wasn’t stepping, it wasn’t catching, it was unstable, it was weird. … You know what it feels like to be on a solid foundation, to walk forward, move forward, attack, and I just wasn’t.
Moving backwards was no problem, so my body and my brain was telling me moving backwards was cool but moving forward, planting and being in his face, pressure — even if you go back and watch the fifth [round] … whenever I was pursuing him, my leg was almost flopping rather than stalking and moving forward,” Chandler continued. “We’ll see what happened, but essentially for 23 minutes of that fight I don’t know if the leg was really working that well.
Regardless, that won’t affect Oliveira’s celebrations as he looks ahead to an expected showdown opposite whoever emerges from Islam Makhachev’s defense against Arman Tsarukyan with the lightweight gold in their possession.
Chandler, meanwhile, made his intentions for 2025 clear inside the Octagon, once again calling for MMA superstar Conor McGregor to face him for his comeback fight — should that ever happen.
