Can someone explain the hype around Michael Chandler?

[Eric Silva 2.0]

We are talking about a 34 year old ex Bellator champion whose best win is a washed Benson Henderson and who has lost against mediocre competition. What about him makes you think that he can hang with the top lightweights in the UFC? It's ridiculous that he was the replacement for Gaethje. Dude is a future journeyman at max.

He's a very good wrestler. I think he gives fits to a guy like Tony or possibly even Gaethje. I think he beats Tony at this point. That's the fight I want to see. I think Sherdog is wrong about this guy. He might not take the title but he's not an Askren. Remember, you all were super high on Askren before he got to the UFC.

 

[letgodiego]

i think he is in the 6 to 10 range. i'm happy he is in the ufc. the guy puts on great fights, win or lose. i would love to see him vs. ferguson or hooker, gaethje. therres so many great fights for him

 

[swarrrm]

He bangs

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

Probably because at 155 he can put anyone's lights out but also be put out himself.

Pleasing style is why he has some hype (and being a champ from another org.).

 

[JoshR86]

Simple

UFC LW division sucks now

 

[Fight Professor]

MMA hipster Rogan fans always love to hype fighters like Lombard, Brooks, Askren, Chandler, Lima, etc.

 

[clutchCAT420]

War Chandler

 

[MMAProfessional]

I think he COULD be good. You look at Alvarez and what he did any many thought he wasn't that great because he was in Bellator. He could go on the impress or be like Will Brooks. I have no clue how he looked so good in Bellator then looked like he didn't even below in the UFC>

 

[J-Pac]

A few years ago he would've been a top top guy. His pressure, wrestling, and power were pretty nasty. He's definitely past his prime, but I still think he will get some quality wins in the UFC.

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

Askren was looked at as one dimensional coming into the UFC. A lot of people didn't believe in his hype because he fought low competition and the eye test Chandler shows more skill. Only the wrestling base/fans were hyping Askren when he was coming into the UFC. His previous fights showed he had major holes in his striking or lack of it. Him not wanting to work on any striking because he just wanted to rely on only his wrestling made his weaknesses obvious to anyone paying attention. Great wrestler yes, but everyone knows you need more than just that in the current landscape of mma.

Huh? nobody bought Askren's hype? you're talking more out ur ass than the first guy...

1- About the hype: You either did not follow MMA back then or lying for god knows why. Before Eddie was signed, we had many many threads backing him up here, that even a meme was born "ya'll dont know who's ____, do you?", and it didn't even die after the cowboy loss. Askren actually had even more hype about him before entering the UFC, and you can search for thousands of threads here about it. Chandler so far has nobody... not one thread so far, not one fan anywhere on the hype train that I've seen so far.

2- About the low competition :Askren was more accomplished in MMA than both chandler and eddie before going into the UFC. and he was doing it much easier than both. He even beat mutual opponents with much in a much easier fashion ( i know dif weight classes but still)

3- I hope you realize I repeated previous points that answer your claims and could have just said reread my post, but nobody here tries.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Low risk, high reward for the UFC. He is a bargaining chip to keep the LW shark tank from eating away at the bottom line. Oh you want more money? Michael Chandler will fight for x, so either lower your expectations or get fucked.

Also: if Chandler wins, the UFC stole a star from Bellator. If Chandler loses, the UFC is the best organization in the world and champions from other orgs can't cut it in the big leagues. You can spin it into a positive narrative for the UFC regardless of outcome, both financially and as a business competing against other organizations.

I think it's even more simple. They are putting his name out there (and BTW a guy like Shale is totally part of the UFC hype machine saying just how Chandler is doing everything perfectly and other shit) and seeing if it gets picked up with MMA "media" and what the response is on social media. It's really a pre-sounding.

 

[LHWBelt]

Its mostly from the same people who were hyping and dangling off Askrens curls when he came over to UFC. Chandler is going to be a big flop like Askren and these people will fade into obscurity once again until their next messiah comes along. Yawn.

LW is a lil different. Lot of great talent not in the UFC lw so I guess that's the hype. Some guys have come right in and won the belt or at least were legit contenders in a few fights.

 

[Luckyme]

Its mostly from the same people who were hyping and dangling off Askrens curls when he came over to UFC. Chandler is going to be a big flop like Askren and these people will fade into obscurity once again until their next messiah comes along. Yawn.

I don't think it's fair to lump Chandler with Askren. Askren was a one-dimensional wrestler who made a name crushing nobodies and hyped himself up. Chandler is more well rounded and deserves to be in the UFC while Askren couldn't crack the top 10.

That said, Chandler is an unproven commodity. We don't know if he's going to be another Kevin Lee or if he has what it takes to win the title. Just like Askren, he needs to be tested first against a #6-#10 level LW.

 

[Adamant]

I saw him fight against Alvarez and I just remember thinking the dude was a monster in the making.

 

[blaccbeard]

Cause hes an amazing fighter and former multiple time world champion wtf is this thread.

 

[Evangelion]

We are talking about a 34 year old ex Bellator champion whose best win is a washed Benson Henderson and who has lost against mediocre competition. What about him makes you think that he can hang with the top lightweights in the UFC? It's ridiculous that he was the replacement for Gaethje. Dude is a future journeyman at max.

You dont think Eddie Alvarez is a better win than Benson?

 

[TripTictonic]

I think the hype I’ve seen is more about the intrigue of him finally coming to the UFC after all these years and how he will do. I’ve hardly seen any one hyping him up as champ material though. I wouldn’t favor him over Khabib, Gaethje, Poirier, Conor or Tony. Some of the other top 15 have a good shot to beat him as well.

 

[CieloLuce]

Lol there isn't.
Michael Chandler is inflating his own stock and ego and not taking fights with LW opponents who called him out like Hooker, Islam, and RDA.
He thinks he deserves Gaethje, Ferguson and DP fights.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

Huh? nobody bought Askren's hype? you're talking more out ur ass than the first guy...

1- About the hype: You either did not follow MMA back then or lying for god knows why. Before Eddie was signed, we had many many threads backing him up here, that even a meme was born "ya'll dont know who's ____, do you?", and it didn't even die after the cowboy loss. Askren actually had even more hype about him before entering the UFC, and you can search for thousands of threads here about it. Chandler so far has nobody... not one thread so far, not one fan anywhere on the hype train that I've seen so far.

2- About the low competition :Askren was more accomplished in MMA than both chandler and eddie before going into the UFC. and he was doing it much easier than both. He even beat mutual opponents with much in a much easier fashion ( i know dif weight classes but still)

3- I hope you realize I repeated previous points that answer your claims and could have just said reread my post, but nobody here tries.

1- I followed mma and a lot of people didn't believe in the hype behind Askren as he was coming into the UFC. He was hyped up from his Bellator and OneFC run but lots of fights he had a hard time getting his wrestling going and almost lost a lot of fights because he never had a set up for his grappling. It worked because he was fighting in places where the focus in training wasn't grappling or wrestling based. His wrestling credentials are legit, but you can't honestly think that being one dimensional will get you far in today's mma landscape. Every one has to adjust to all aspects of mma and be proficient enough in everything else. Even Khabib who's greatest strength is grappling worked on his stand up to the point he can stand and trade with elite strikers. Askren never worked on his striking and just wanted to rely on his wrestling. It's obvious in his fighting style and how he was training. Just look at the match ups he had in UFC, do those match ups favor Askren? He was brought in to lose to try and discredit OneFC.

2- OneFC at the time had a lot of fighters not really focused on the grappling aspect so it was a weakness early on for most of their fighters. It's different now but it's still lacking compared to areas that have western wrestling or dagastani wrestling etc, especially the ones that mix the wrestling with bjj.

3. If you follow peoples careers that come from other promotions that were popular or previous champions they are given hard fights to help prove the UFC brand is better. If they win their first fight they will lose their next and so on and then UFC will build them up. If they do happen to win their first fight usually it's very competitive and it could've gone either way. It's bad business to bring someone in from another promotion that's your competition and he just steam rolls through the UFC fighter. That's a bad look for the brand of UFC having the best fighters.

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

1- I followed mma and a lot of people didn't believe in the hype behind Askren as he was coming into the UFC. He was hyped up from his Bellator and OneFC run but lots of fights he had a hard time getting his wrestling going and almost lost a lot of fights because he never had a set up for his grappling. It worked because he was fighting in places where the focus in training wasn't grappling or wrestling based. His wrestling credentials are legit, but you can't honestly think that being one dimensional will get you far in today's mma landscape. Every one has to adjust to all aspects of mma and be proficient enough in everything else. Even Khabib who's greatest strength is grappling worked on his stand up to the point he can stand and trade with elite strikers. Askren never worked on his striking and just wanted to rely on his wrestling. It's obvious in his fighting style and how he was training. Just look at the match ups he had in UFC, do those match ups favor Askren? He was brought in to lose to try and discredit OneFC.

2- OneFC at the time had a lot of fighters not really focused on the grappling aspect so it was a weakness early on for most of their fighters. It's different now but it's still lacking compared to areas that have western wrestling or dagastani wrestling etc, especially the ones that mix the wrestling with bjj.

3. If you follow peoples careers that come from other promotions that were popular or previous champions they are given hard fights to help prove the UFC brand is better. If they win their first fight they will lose their next and so on and then UFC will build them up. If they do happen to win their first fight usually it's very competitive and it could've gone either way. It's bad business to bring someone in from another promotion that's your competition and he just steam rolls through the UFC fighter. That's a bad look for the brand of UFC having the best fighters.

U wrote all all that to mean so little...

1- ofcourse lots of people didnt belive in Askren. Lots of people till this day dont belive in fedor, GSP, Bones, and Silva. I’m saying alot of people believed in Askren, and alot of people still think he went to UFC too old and late. I definitely remmember more than u as i made more than one thread asking people on how they think he’ll do in UFC. A huge amount of people hyped him up. Chandler had none zero zilch. Why cant u wrap ur head around that still, u really believe everyone following mma knows anything about grappling or striking? Get real. I still hear people in bars tell me “that armbar shit wont work on me, totally staged”

2- as for ur claim about OneFC’s grappling... he beat Shinya Aoki there like i already said to the post u replied, one of the most famous and influential pure grapplers and modern time mma pioneer.

3- askren was brought in to replace a shit product that wont sell (might mouse) a well rounded mma all time great nobody cares about. It was literally a fighter for fighter contract. Take off ur tin foil hat.

4- Askren beat some pretty good fighters before ONE like Lima and Koreshkov and one of them he left a bloody mess.

5- if u are still looking for Chandler’s only fan to prove ur point, look in the mirror.