Michael Chandler’s dream to compete on the UFC White House card turned into a nightmare after Mauricio Ruffy picked him apart and ultimately delivered a first-round knockout.
The loss dropped Chandler to 2-6 in the UFC with a fourth defeat in a row overall as the 40-year-old veteran is now more than four years removed from his most recent win in the octagon. In his post-fight statement, Chandler didn’t even hint at retirement and vowed to come back better that never for his next fight.
But retired welterweight Matt Brown says that Chandler’s losing streak along with this latest performance proves that time has passed him by and he’s just no longer able to hang with UFC level competition.
“With Michael Chandler, just his whole UFC run hasn’t been anything of note,” Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “The fact that he’s as big of a star as he is in the UFC, I like Michael Chandler, I’m not trying to knock him, I’m just looking at objective facts — he shouldn’t be the star that he is in the UFC. He’s won two fights in the UFC, 2-6 and how are you 2-6 and you’re as big of a star as him? It doesn’t really add up. He was great in Bellator. He had the great fights with Eddie Alvarez and there’s definitely a lot of potential in him. He hasn’t reached his potential.
“I would not get excited to see him fight again. If I’m Dana White, I either cut him or tell him you need to retire. If he wanted to keep fighting, I think he would probably fit in other organizations. I’d like to see him in bare-knuckle. I’d like to see him maybe in Gamebred MMA, the bare-knuckle stuff. I think there’s fun things for him to do. He’s clearly not a UFC level guy though at 2-6. You can’t do that.”
The loss dropped Chandler to 2-6 in the UFC with a fourth defeat in a row overall as the 40-year-old veteran is now more than four years removed from his most recent win in the octagon. In his post-fight statement, Chandler didn’t even hint at retirement and vowed to come back better that never for his next fight.
But retired welterweight Matt Brown says that Chandler’s losing streak along with this latest performance proves that time has passed him by and he’s just no longer able to hang with UFC level competition.
“With Michael Chandler, just his whole UFC run hasn’t been anything of note,” Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “The fact that he’s as big of a star as he is in the UFC, I like Michael Chandler, I’m not trying to knock him, I’m just looking at objective facts — he shouldn’t be the star that he is in the UFC. He’s won two fights in the UFC, 2-6 and how are you 2-6 and you’re as big of a star as him? It doesn’t really add up. He was great in Bellator. He had the great fights with Eddie Alvarez and there’s definitely a lot of potential in him. He hasn’t reached his potential.
“I would not get excited to see him fight again. If I’m Dana White, I either cut him or tell him you need to retire. If he wanted to keep fighting, I think he would probably fit in other organizations. I’d like to see him in bare-knuckle. I’d like to see him maybe in Gamebred MMA, the bare-knuckle stuff. I think there’s fun things for him to do. He’s clearly not a UFC level guy though at 2-6. You can’t do that.”
4 months ago
