After coming up short in realizing his title dreams at UFC 262, Michael Chandler believes that if he is matched with Justin Gaethje, he will win handily.
While Michael Chandler was unable to capture the vacant lightweight title against Charles Oliveira back at UFC 262, he showed he’s all action with an early knockdown, and despite losing the fight, similar to the top lightweight Justin Gaethje, he put on an entertaining show. The top lightweight admits that a fight with Gaethje would be one of the most fan-friendly fights on Earth.
Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and Gaethje fought before, with Alvarez securing the incredible third-round TKO victory. Following Chandler’s TKO loss to Charles Oliveira, Alvarez spoke to The Sun about Chandler’s chances against a possible future foe in Gaethje but didn’t seem optimistic about his former opponent’s chances.
“And I think he should probably stay away from Gaethje. That’s not a good match-up for him. But we’ll see, man. It’s really up to him and his desire. We’ll only know on fight night.” Eddie Alvarez said.
Following the former UFC lightweight champion’s comments, Michael Chandler responded and attempted to shut down the point Alvarez was trying to make.
“Well No. 1, you can’t look at the top five, top six guys and there’s scenarios where we are all bad matchups for each other and we are all good matchups for each other,” Chandler said to MMA Fighting. “It’s all the upper echelon, it’s all the top five, top six on the entire planet at a certain weight class.
The former title challenger is of the belief that at the highest level, each athlete is a good and bad matchup for each other. Additionally, Michael Chandler seemed adamant that a fight with Gaethje would result in not just a TKO, but a cold knockout.
“I’ll tell you this — if Eddie Alvarez can beat Justin Gaethje, I can definitely beat Justin Gaethje. I won’t just TKO him. I believe I’ll knock Justin Gaethje out cold. I’ll keep a high pace just like Eddie did. It will be a very fun fight. It’s a fight people want to see.” Michael Chandler said.
It seems Chandler believes since he bested Alvarez, and Alvarez beat Gaethje, that he will do worse than what “The Underground King” did, which is a knockout instead of a TKO finish. In the end, fans are clamoring for this lightweight pairing so hopefully the fight materializes as soon as Chandler is healthy to return following his unsuccessful title bid against the champion Oliveira.
Who is your early pick in a fight between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler?
