Longtime Bellator fighter Michael Chandler, who has been on fire as of late, met his toughest competition to date at the Bellator NYC on pay-per-view as he defended his lightweight title against Brent Primus.
In the first round, the bout was temporarily halted by the referee to check on Chandler; whose left ankle was visibly injured. The bout was stopped in favor of Primus via TKO. Thus, Primus became the new champion.
Coming into this fight, there were some question marks regarding how Primus would do against Chandler due to his history against top tier competition. He was on a seven fight winning streak with his most notable win over Derek Anderson in August of 2015. He proved the doubters wrong by beating Chandler.
Moving along, Chandler was expected to challenge Primus for the title at Bellator 197. However, Primus pulled out of the fight citing a knee injury. Now, Chandler is now scheduled to fight Brandon Girtz at the event.
During a recent interview with MMAJunkie, Chandler stated that he doesn’t believe he’ll ever get the rematch with the champion.
“I honestly don’t think I will ever fight Brent Primus again,” Chandler told MMAjunkie Radio. “I think he’s going to continue to find ways to not fight me. He’s going to continue to find ways to hold on to the belt, which he’s not doing anything with, by the way.
“When these guys in the UFC hold on to the belt for two years at a time and only defend it once or twice, they’re actually out there doing appearances, making money, building their platform, building their brand. Brent, we haven’t heard anything from this guy since June 24 (2017), so it’s not like he’s advancing his life from holding on to the belt.”
“As soon as I get my hand raised, and I beat Brandon Girtz, and it sets in that Primus ran again, I’m going to set my sights on him again and see when I might be able to fight him, but I’m not going to chase him,” Chandler said. “If anything, he needs me more than I need him, and I think he’ll be stripped of the title or relinquish the title before I end up fighting him.”
Bellator 197 is set to take place on Friday, April 13, 2018 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri. The preliminary card will air online at 7:00 pm EST while the main card will air on Paramount Network at 9:00 PM EST.
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