When breaking down Michael Chandler vs. Tony Ferguson, a few scenarios could happen. Chandler goes out and uses his NCAA wrestling to control his opponent; Chandler uses his knockout power, and/or Chandler will get into a crazy fight like his first three UFC fights. He says crazy fights are engrained in him, and that’s what we should expect.
“Tony Ferguson is a one-of-one talent.”
Speaking with Yahoo Sports recently, Chandler explained.
“Yeah, you know, that’s, uh, it’s just ingrained in me, man. Some guys try to make changes and, obviously, I’ve shown that I can fight like a veteran, I can fight smart and sharp but I can also pull out the dog in me, as we’ve seen a couple of times,” Chandler said. “So, when you fight a guy like Tony Ferguson, he is as unpredictable as they come. He is a certified one-of-one talent. I don’t have any training partners that I can actually train with, that can actually emulate Tony Ferguson, so that adds an extra wrinkle of intrigue to the fight. So, I’m excited to go out there and compete. I can’t wait.”
Possible rematches
Chandler isn’t lying. Tony Ferguson is one of the most unique fighters the sport has ever seen. But, that uniqueness doesn’t matter to Chandler. He plans to run through his opponent, hopefully, sit cageside and watch the main event because he says a rematch with Oliviera is possible.
“I will dispatch of Tony Ferguson a couple of fights before the main event and hopefully be sitting there cageside watching what could be my next opponent,” Chandler said. “There’s not an MMA fan or combat sports fan alive that doesn’t want to see me rematch Charles Oliveira or especially Justin Gaethje in a five-round title fight, so I’ve put myself in a position to possibly get that.”
Conor?
If ‘Iron’ Mike doesn’t rematch one of the fighters in the main event of UFC 274, a fight with Conor McGregor intrigues him as well as a grudge match with Dustin Poirier at welterweight.
“If not, I think Conor is coming back, and he needs an opponent, so there’s some big fights for me. Maybe jumping up to 17o and fighting [Nate] Diaz, [Dustin] Poirier and seeing what happens. There are a lot of different fights on the horizon that could happen,” Chandler said.
So many fights, so little time.
Chandler vs. Ferguson goes down this weekend at UFC 274 in Phoenix, AZ, in the featured bout of the evening, and we will be there.
Who do you want to see Michael Chandler fight next?
