At UFC 309 in New York, Michael Chandler will make his long awaited return to the Octagon where he’s in search of revenge. After waiting for his fight with Conor McGregor to materialize for so long, he’s happy with how things worked out even though he’s not fighting “The Mac”.
Instead, “Iron” Mike has the opportunity to put himself right back in the title picture by beating Charles Oliveira in a rematch of their first meeting over three years ago.
After Chandler’s big win over Dan Hooker on his UFC debut, he and “Do Bronx” put on a crazy fight at UFC 262 which saw the Brazilian stop him in the second round to win the lightweight title that was left behind by Khabib Nurmagomedov in retirement.
One contender at 155-pounds that has been very critical of Chandler’s all-action fighting style is Arman Tsarukyan, who appears to be gearing up for a rematch with the champion, Islam Makhachev, early next year. He’s made it clear that he’s not the biggest fan of the former Bellator star and doesn’t respect him as a top fighter in the division.
Tsarukyan is coming off of a hard fought win over Oliveira last time out at UFC 300 to solidify his status as the number one contender in the division. When looking at the upcoming co-main event at Madison Square Garden in an interview with MMA Junkie, it’s no surprise that he’s picking his former opponent to win in convincing fashion and earn the next shot at the belt.
“Michael Chandler going to lose for sure. He’s number one easy fight for Charles Oliveira, he’s going to choke him out or knock him out. Easy money for Oliveira so so happy for him and after the fight, Oliveira is going to be the next after me so I’m going to fight with Islam and after that fight, for sure he’s going to fight for the title because he has a big name, he was the champion and the UFC loves him.”
