Ben Duffy/Sherdog.com illustration
Michael Chandler
Anything can—and often does—happen in the heat of battle. Some acts, however, draw more scrutiny than others. Such was the case for Michael Chandler at UFC 281.
“Iron Mike” has been seen as a man of character throughout his stellar mixed martial arts career, which includes three different reigns as Bellator MMA lightweight champion. He made his long-awaited UFC debut in January 2021 and did not disappoint, earning four post-fight performance bonuses across his five appearances and reaffirming his place as one of the most exciting fighters in the sport. Chandler’s latest outing did nothing to dispel the notion.
His showdown with Dustin Poirier on Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York will go down as one of the more memorable encounters of 2022. Chandler had the Louisiana native on his heels with powerful right hands in the first half of Round 1 and executed a belly-to-back suplex that set a crowd of 20,845 on fire. Poirier stayed composed, returned to an upright position and let his educated fists do the rest. He flurried on Chandler late, pinned him to the fence and teed off with both hands. If Poirier had but a few more seconds with which to work, he likely would have ended it there. Chandler stepped out for the middle stanza with a disfigured face and blood pouring from his nose. Nevertheless, he struck for a takedown inside the first 30 seconds and kept Poirier bottled up on the canvas for the rest of the round. Momentum once again proved fleeting. Poirier countered a high-amplitude takedown at the start of Round 3, scrambled into top position, cracked the Kill Cliff Fight Club rep with elbow-laced ground-and-pound and advanced to the back. In no time, the fight-ending choke was in place.
Afterward, it became clear that Chandler—inadvertently or otherwise—had soiled his performance when replays showed him attempting to fish hook the American Top Team mainstay during one of their intense exchanges on the ground. He had progressed to the back and was desperately trying to get Poirier to lift his chin in an effort to secure a rear-naked choke. Chandler could also be seen blowing his bloody nose onto Poirier while in top position. The two men did not appear to leave the cage on good terms.
“I’m not going to say what was said. It’s between he and I,” Chandler said during the post-fight press conference. “I did go over there to be a man of my word. I said win, lose or draw, I would shake his hand and be respectful after. Something was said, and I didn’t really like it. We’re still friends slash enemies slash whatever we are. We’re not really sure what we are. [He] wasn’t as graceful in victory as I would have been or I would have liked. Don’t have expectations of other people. They’ll always let you down.”
Poirier was more forthcoming with the media.
“I told him this is my house. That’s what I told him. I said, ‘This is my house,’” he said. “That’s it, and I told him he was a dirty mother-----, too, for putting his fingers in my mouth and blowing his nose. It’s all good. It’s over. It’s whatever.”
Chandler claims the fish hooking incident was inadvertent.
“I will admit his mouth was open and my hand went inside of there and was on his mouthpiece,” he said. “He bit down, and I was trying to pull it out. It wasn’t as though I was trying to pull it out and he was biting it and I couldn’t get it out. It was more just the angle. Y’all know I ain’t a cheater. I love this game. I don’t cheat.”
Poirier had other views on what went down.
“It was definitely intentional,” he said.
Chandler remains one of the more genuine and likable personalities in the business, and the happenings at 281—viewed as out of character by most—do not figure to muddy public perception regarding the Missouri native much, if at all. With that said, it certainly was not Chandler’s finest hour.
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