Michael Chandler could walk away an MMA great today ... but the lightweight title contender believes he's still got a ton left in the tank, and he's intent on proving it when he steps into the Octagon against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 314!
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00:00the ufc loves putting on big fights fights that make sense fights fights that get people
00:06intrigued right patty pimples brand you know and his brand is you either love him or you hate him
00:11right but all but either way he's running his race and he is unapologetically himself and i'm
00:16kind of the same way um you know obviously i let my i think my fighting style is a little bit more
00:21exciting um he's got a little bit more of a brand outside of of the uh the octagon um but man either
00:29way both worlds collide on april 12th in miami co-main event five rounds man it's going to be
00:33fireworks i plan on going out there stealing the show at ufc 314 get my hand raised calling some
00:39people out um but i'm excited about it man mike what's the mindset right now uh obviously uh i
00:46think people could make the case they could say hey this is a risky fight for michael chandler because
00:49mike's ranked seventh and and patty's 12th and uh you know if michael were to not win this fight this
00:54could hurt his prospects moving forward is it is it still michael that hey i want that title and
01:00that's the goal or is it about just being a part of the biggest events that you could possibly uh be
01:05a part of oh well you know i think my last fight was uh a number one contender fight i had the
01:10opportunity to be able to put myself in title contention i fell short so you know with with that
01:16i got to deal with the repercussions so now i'm in a position where i need to go out there
01:19and fight somebody get a win and that's also the lifestyle of or the life cycle of a fighter
01:23yeah fourier had to fight benoit saint denis to prove he was in the top five and then gaethje had
01:29to fight fazeev the first time to prove he was still a top five guy this is what i have to do
01:33um and also make friends with risk and you'll never be alone a day in your life i've made an entire life
01:39this entire life that i have built has been built upon taking big risks throwing myself into the fire
01:46and uh this is no different and uh patty patty pimple gets to be the uh uh the have the
01:52unfortunate circumstances of fighting me on april 12th and uh you know we'll see how it ends up but
01:57i believe i get my hand raised in dominant fashion you know how the saying goes in in all sports and
02:03in mma certainly that there's levels to this is it your opinion that patty who has obviously not
02:09faced someone like you before has not faced someone as highly ranked as you is this uh uh there's levels
02:15to this situation where yes he's had success he's won some fights in a row obviously and is a
02:21talented guy but this is a whole different ball game here i do think that you know i but obviously
02:27i i know myself but you know you also see the strength of schedule that i've had um i've got
02:32some losses but nobody left the octagon fighting me unscathed even if they beat me they almost got beat
02:38up trying um but also you know you look at patty's strength of schedule it's been nothing like me um
02:45and he's fought nobody like me but the absence of a strong schedule is not the presence of weakness
02:50you know so i'm looking at this as as if this is patty's opportunity to prove either he is who he
02:56says he is or he isn't and for me it's another opportunity for me to prove either i am who i say i am
03:01or i'm not do i still have it there's a lot of questions that need to get answered and i think
03:05the answers are going to be emphatic and the answers are going to be in my favor um but with
03:10that being said man i'm just excited to compete again you know obviously you know we we covered it
03:14over the year that i waited for connor and the ultimate fighter and all that stuff and now you
03:18can see by my actions man fighting in november getting healthy barely getting healthy after that
03:24fight saying yes to this fight maybe a little bit too soon but now here i am seven weeks into a
03:29training camp body feels great my heart is full my mind is sharp and i want to be active in 2025
03:35and i get to go out there and continue to prove that there are levels to this game connor you said
03:40i've got some people i want to call out i don't want to steal your thunder here is connor mcgregor
03:44still on your mind and uh is he potentially one of those people that you uh will name after you win
03:49saturday i mean i think uh connor knows i want to fight him the world knows that he wants to fight
03:55me if he comes back his road back to the ufc goes through me um so i don't think i need to call him
04:00out um there's some other fights that are really exciting you know obviously a win over patty
04:04doesn't exactly put me in the title contention but dustin poria got a title shot after beating number
04:1011 um uh islam beat bobby green and he got a title shot so um i'm not saying i'll get the next title
04:18shot but i do think chandler versus islam is sure does sound appetizing if islam goes up which he's
04:23talking about doing it man chandler versus gaethje again chandler versus alivara well i can't do
04:28chandler versus alivara i don't deserve to fight him but chandler versus max holloway chandler versus
04:33to poria these are big fights good fights i'll tell you what man it's how beautiful is it the ufc
04:39lightweight division is a it's it's it's the uh murderer's row of of dudes that just go out there
04:47and they don't just compete they're going out there to brave bodily harm you're right it's like
04:52that's what you do so uh you know we'll see man i think i will fight connor if he comes back
04:58but i'm not holding my breath nor should you nor should anybody nor should anybody make any kind
05:03of bets that connor is coming back but uh i think he comes back eventually but we'll see if i'm still
05:07around uh you know everybody's had problems with with islam and the pressure how would that look
05:15obviously you're an incredibly accomplished wrestler how have you thought about what that
05:20matchup would look like i'm not trying to divert your attention here you've got to fight in eight
05:23days but that's a fascinating matchup i think michael yeah no you're good man i i think about
05:27this all the time and i thought about it when i first came into the ufc um because i was thinking
05:32about fighting khabib um now i train with a couple guys from dagestan and i've i've i've visualized my
05:39fighting myself fighting islam and i've you know been close to the point where i could get the title
05:44shot and i haven't been able to put it together um i think a fight versus islam man i'm not going
05:51to sit here and say that i'm a i should be a favorite but i know i can put together a training
05:56camp and put together a game plan that would get that would give fits to islam big time because
06:01i don't think a lot of people have seen my wrestling i don't think people see how great of
06:06a wrestler i am inside the practice room and sometimes i decide to go out there and just throw haymakers
06:11if i am forced to wrestle um my wrestling comes out and if islam forced me to wrestle
06:18my wrestling would come out and i think i would get on top i think i would hold him down he wouldn't
06:22be used to it um and on the feet i think i'm head and shoulders above him in the striking department
06:28but with that being said i wish him the best of luck with whoever he fights next all i know is
06:32chandler versus islam is a huge fight to make at 155 yeah and the fans thank you for throwing those
06:38haymakers all the time and a little less wrestling um last thing before i let you go and thank you so
06:44much michael uh you're like i don't know maybe like 65 ish or so miles away from mar-a-lago in uh
06:50in miami on saturday at ufc 314 uh do we think there's a chance that the president i know he's busy
06:56do we think there's a chance the president could make a little trip down the car you know a beast
07:00ride down or marine one ride down to uh the fight man there's there's always a chance man anytime
07:06the ufc is putting on a big pay-per-view donald trump uh wants to be there if he can yeah obviously
07:12this one does make a lot of sense because south florida um that would be amazing he was at my
07:17last fight at madison square garden he saw the slams at msg heard around the world um he gave me
07:23you know gave me a handshake and said you're one bad sob um wow after the fight you know so i mean uh
07:30hopefully we will see hopefully him and a lot of his his team is there because they are all doing a lot
07:35of great things right now making some huge changes for this beautiful country of ours in record time
07:40um and i'll be draped in the stars and bars and uh would love to love to compete in front of them
07:45again we shall see
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