5 Defining Moments: Michael Chandler

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Michael Chandler has started to regain some lost steam in the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight division.

The Kill Cliff Fight Club export will toe the line against American Top Team’s Dustin Poirier in a hotly anticipated three-round UFC 281 showcase on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Chandler, 36, owns a 2-2 record across his four appearances inside the Octagon. He last competed at UFC 274, where he snapped a two-fight losing streak in spectacular fashion with a front kick knockout of Tony Ferguson in the second round of their May 7 confrontation.

As Chandler makes final preparations for his forthcoming battle with Poirier at 155 pounds, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:

1. Fit for a King

An undefeated but untested prospect at the time, Chandler submitted Eddie Alvarez with a rear-naked choke to capture the undisputed Bellator MMA lightweight championship in the Bellator 58 main event on Nov. 19, 2011 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Alvarez checked out 3:06 into Round 4. They exchanged strikes, scrambles and attempted submissions for 18 minutes and six seconds in what most still see as one of the best fights in Bellator history. It remains Alvarez’s only defeat in 10 appearances under the Bellator banner. Decisive and dramatic, the win made Chandler a cornerstone of the fledgling organization—it was the first of his three title reigns—and launched him towards stardom.

2. Thrice as Nice

Chandler became the first-ever three-time Bellator MMA champion when he reclaimed the lightweight crown with a lopsided unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Brent Primus in the Bellator 212 headliner on Dec. 14, 2018 at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. The judges awarded the Henri Hooft protégé a clean sweep on the scorecards: 50-45, 50-45 and 50-45. Primus—who had beaten the Sanford MMA rep six months earlier—never seemed comfortable outside of a second-round exchange in which he advanced to the back and threatened to cinch a rear-naked choke. Chandler executed takedowns in the first, third, fourth and fifth rounds, maintained advantageous positions for minutes at a time and applied his ground-and-pound whenever possible. By the time it was over, there was little doubt regarding the outcome.

3. A Footnote to History

Bellator MMA featherweight champion Patricio Freire added the promotion’s lightweight title to his collection when he dethroned Chandler with punches in the first round of their Bellator 221 main event on May 11, 2019 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. The end came 61 seconds into Round 1. Despite the heated emotions involved with the match, Freire remained disciplined. The Brazilian countered a Chandler jab with a perfectly placed right hook behind the ear that sent the onetime NCAA All-American wrestler to the canvas. Freire pounced and let more punches fly, forcing his rival to turtle in a kneeling position. Chandler absorbed several more blows to the side of the head and did not adequately respond in Rob Madrigal’s eyes, as the referee swooped in for the rescue. The vanquished champion’s protest was immediate but fell on deaf ears.

4. Grand Entrance

Chandler made a sensational Octagon debut when he cut down Dan Hooker with punches in the first round of their UFC 257 co-headliner on Jan. 23, 2021 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Hooker bowed out 2:30 into Round 1. Chandler ate a few hard leg kicks, closed the distance, cut loose with a right hand to the body and leveled the City Kickboxing star with a left hook upstairs. He pounced on the fallen Hooker in a kneeling position and fired away with right hands until the job was done. The performance established “Iron Mike” as an immediate threat to the lightweight elite.

5. Short of the Summit

Charles Oliveira completed his long, arduous climb to the top of the Ultimate Fighting Championship mountain and laid claim to the vacant lightweight title when he took out Chandler with punches in the second round of the UFC 262 main event on May 15, 2021 at the Toyota Center in Houston. Oliveira slammed the door 19 seconds into Round 2. Chandler had the Brazilian on the brink of being finished on multiple occasions—he even made a pass at a guillotine choke—in the first round but could not close the deal. Oliveira answered in the second, where he decked the Missouri native twice with left hooks before polishing off the onetime All-American wrestler with a final volley of unanswered punches. So began a title reign that was once unthinkable.