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.
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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.”
It’s often noted that Chandler’s resume doesn’t necessarily match his performances, especially after he engaged in a pair of Fight of the Year candidates against Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. He also nearly finished Charles Oliveira in his lone UFC title fight but then Chandler ultimately fell by knockout in the second round.
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As far as his wins, Chandler was very impressive in his debut against Dan Hooker, who remains a ranked lightweight in the UFC. But his second victory came against Tony Ferguson in the midst of what became an eight-fight losing streak before he left the UFC.
Chandler scored a highlight-reel front kick knockout to win that fight, but Brown isn’t sold that performance should really boost his resume given where Ferguson was in his career at that stage.
“The Tony Ferguson knockout is almost irrelevant,” Brown said. “The Dan Hooker [knockout], that’s a good win at the time but that’s it. You got one good win.”
While Chandler has definitely put on some entertaining fights — even in defeat — Brown says he just hasn’t built up enough good will to keep giving him more and more opportunities to right the ship.
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“It’s different when you’ve got B.J. Penn on a seven or eight fight losing streak or whatever,” Brown explained. “A f*cking legend who was a champion back in the day. You’re like OK, we want you to retire but if you want to [keep fighting], we’ll keep giving you fights.
“Michael Chandler hasn’t done anything for the UFC. He sold some tickets and some pay-per-views and stuff. He hasn’t accomplished anything in the UFC.”
Chandler already shut down any retirement talk and Brown says if he doesn’t want to hang up the gloves, there are still plenty of opportunities available for him. But Brown just doesn’t see how the UFC keeps giving Chandler fights with continued diminished returns.
“I think RAF would be a great spot for him,” Brown said about Chandler. “There are fun things for Chandler to do. The UFC, he’s clearly not cut out for it at this age.
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“When he was 29, maybe he would have been. Clearly he was, especially with his wars with Alvarez. Clearly he was that guy. But that time’s over.”
