It’s no secret that ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler has quickly become one of, if not the most entertaining athletes in the UFC lightweight division. After a tremendous showing against Dustin Poirier ended in defeat, exciting fights & unfortunate results seem to be the story of the Missouri native’s UFC career so far.
Chandler currently boasts a 23-8 record, with two wins & 3 losses coming inside the UFC. Since making a huge statement with a TKO win over Dan Hooker on his UFC debut, Iron Mike hasn’t been short of tough opponents to face in a pretty stacked division.
His next challenge would be facing up to defending champion Charles Oliveira in search of Lightweight gold. Unfortunately for Chandler, it was to end in defeat, with the belt staying in Brazil for the time being. He would then face the ‘Highlight’ Justin Gaethje in a gruelling 15 minutes inside the octagon, although it would once again end in despair for Chandler.
Up next was UFC veteran & fan-favourite Tony Ferguson, who he defeated in the 2nd round with a stunning highlight reel front kick KO, granting his 2nd win inside the promotion. That brings us to his most recent defeat to Dustin Poirier in November 2022.
At the time of writing, Michael Chandler is currently ranked #5 in the UFC lightweight division.
With such a varying career so far with the UFC, It really begs the question of what is coming up next.
Michael Chandler vs Conor McGregor
Perhaps this is the fight that would make the most sense. It could be a great comeback fight for Conor. It could be a great opportunity for Chandler to entertain once again in front of hundreds of thousands of PPV buyers. And it would be a HUGE payday.
This is a matchup that has run the rumour mill for some good time now. Although recently brought back to focus by Dana White himself.
The rumours were then rather quickly shut down again, with Dana reportedly stating it was a ‘hypothetical scenario’.
However, if this match-up was to ever come to light, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that we would surely be in for fireworks, even with the bout being potentially at 170.
Charles Oliveira vs Michael Chandler II
Another potential matchup for Iron Mike would be to run it back with Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira.
With both fighters just recently coming off of losses, it would be a perfect opportunity for both fighters to get back in the winning column. ‘Do Bronx’ recently expressed his desire to take some time out of the octagon following a call out from Rafael Fiziev & with Iron Mike needing some well-earned recovery time, the scale for both fighters to return may just be ideal. We could be in for another fun fight between these two without the added pressure of fighting for gold. Chandler will be looking to draw even with a win, with Oliveira wanting to make it 2-0, ensuring the first outing wasn’t just luck. A win for either fighter may just put them in pole position for a soon title shot.
Rafael dos Anjos vs Michael Chandler
Perhaps the most unlikely of the 3, a matchup against RDA may not be as far away as we think.
When Iron Mike was just the new kid in the promotion, the former lightweight titleholder made his intentions for a fight with Chandler clear. The proposal never really got off the ground at that point, but it’s a million miles off to think it’s a fight we may not see in the future. Fighting a former champion, coming off a win, might be a good chance for Chandler to prove his worth at the top of the division, and a win won’t put him far out of the frame in the title picture. He is yet to test himself against an opponent as experienced as dos Anjos in the UFC & he may see it as the perfect opportunity to showcase his skillset.
Whatever Iron Mike’s next match-up may be, you can almost guarantee it’s going to be entertaining & at 36 he’s not far out of the title picture just yet.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
