Chandler is just giving fights away

[NationWideNinja]

That is very interesting, maybe he is constantly trying to ease himself with his non stop motivational speeches.

Yeah def possible. It was a fairly old episode, maybe 4/5 years ago. But I doubt he ever got completely over it.

 

[Thesnake101]

Chandler has been like this for a while, even before coming to the UFC.

In his first fight against Benson he fought exactly the same as against Poirier, spent his whole gas tank in the first pursuing a finish and hitting german suplexes. He only managed to pull off the win because Benson was unable to stop the takedowns late, but iirc he even managed to win a round from the bottom simply because Chandler was too tired to do anything other than hold.

It is a bit frustrating because you can see how gifted and skilled he is, but fighting like a bat out of hell is ingrained in him. Hell, even in his first fight with Eddie he started it off by blitzing him and nearly got him out of there in less than 20 seconds.

 

[jkthenatural]

I mean Dustin himself said that if mike threw straight punches after hurting him, he probably gets him out of there. Dude just can’t help himself to go crazy. It is what it is though

 

[RockyLockridge]

he's a better fighter than dustin, but he gave that win away it's heart breaking. now everyone is going to think dustin is one of the best lw's to ever fight in the ufc when in reality he's not even top 10.

It's annoying, but it's how these fighters get boosted.

 

[europe1]

Everything Chandler does has to be big, explosive, athletic. Were he more mesured he'd be a better fighter. The way both Dustin and Justin sprawled on him had a lot to do with the sheer momentum his mega-moves generate, allowing them to spring back up. Chandler is one of those guys who is athletic to a fault since it prevents him from considering other avenues of doing things.
But I'm not complaining. Its always so stupidly entertaining.

 

[corrupted]

His fight IQ during his UFC run has been pretty bad. Pretty obvious he's fighting to entertain moreso than to win.

He's become the ultimate company man in such a short space of time.

I honestly think his main goal is to set himself up with a long term job with the UFC when he retires, as a commentator or an analyst, more than it is to become champion.

It really does. Back tracks on a lot of his trash talk. Doesn't stop talking about the platform he has and how great everything in the UFC is. Even when the question has nothing to do with it..

Interviewer: Mike, how do you see the current situation in with PEDs with some fighters getting tested almost weekly and others hardly at all?
Mike: We've just got such a good platform here and the UFC does it the best. Everywhere and everyone is great. But the UFC are simply a little greater

 

[BEATDOWNS]

He has ground beef for a brain what do you expect?

 

[Bojka]

Poirier fight was definitely winnable. In the 3rd he should have went for a more controlled TD.

He won almost the entire 1st round but ended up losing it on the scorecards and getting hurt because he was gassed by the end of it.

 

[witt1021]

shitty fight iq. prob the worst fight iq at 155.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

His fight IQ during his UFC run has been pretty bad. Pretty obvious he's fighting to entertain moreso than to win.

He's become the ultimate company man in such a short space of time.

I honestly think his main goal is to set himself up with a long term job with the UFC when he retires, as a commentator or an analyst, more than it is to become champion.

That makes sense but he should try to get that belt. DC, Cruz, Bisping all held the title. Even the spanish commentators Werdum, Moreno held titles. It seems having a belt helps a lot.

 

[OldBoy91]

That makes sense but he should try to get that belt. DC, Cruz, Bisping all held the title. Even the spanish commentators Werdum, Moreno held titles. It seems having a belt helps a lot.

Sure. But there's other criteria that Chandler fits too that doesn't require having held a belt. He cleans up well in a suit, he's incredibly well spoken, intelligent, and is willing to suck up to the UFC and avoid talking about subjects they don't like such as fighter pay.

Alan Jouban, Paul Felder, Michael Chiesa and Anthony Smith all got gigs based off of that.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

If he had used jabs and straights he would have had Poirier out of there in the first round. A big part of Dustin's R1 strategy was letting Mike wiff on huge looping haymakers.
There was a point where Chandler had Poirier hurt. At that point, he should have used body work and straight punches

Don´t think so. Poirier is by far the superior striking tactician. His defense was excellent, his counters were great, and then he started winning in the offense. At no point before or after the fight did I think Chandler was likely to out-strike Poirier. It got a bit hairy in the first for DP, but then he put a clinic on Mike´s face to end the round.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

I dont know if hes panicking in there, or that hes so married to this idea of being an all-action fighter, but I cant help but feel that hes giving wins away. The Poirier fight looked beyond winnable if he didnt spaz out from the get-go and emptied the gastank in round 1. He could probably have comfortably wrestlefucked Poirier if he commited to a disciplined gameplan.
Same with the Gaethje fight. Had he fought a somewhat smart fight he could have taken an important round and walked away with the victory.
The Oliveira fight is the only one I feel that he fought a good fight but simply got caught.

If he didnt go HAM every time he stepped in the cage he could currently be 4-1 in the UFC instead of 2-3.

I tend to agree -- skillwise, I don't view Chandler any less now than I did before the fight. I maintain that if he fought to win instead of to entertain, he would have defeated both Gaethje and Poirier. I don't think he would have defeated Oliveira, but yeah I tend to agree -- his in fight IQ is pretty low, it seems. He seems to lack composure in hectic situations, be it in situations where he is having success or his opponent. At 37, I still feel there is a lot he can do in the sport if he optimizes his game -- a big "if" though.

 

[Adebisi]

Why is it so hard for many of you to accept that Chandler just isn’t that good? Lol people here just can’t seem to accept it.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Chandler has alway done this, he's built a game around blitzing guys early and if that doesn't work he will get put on the back foot and lit up by better strikers.

He's a super-athlete with somewhat limited depth of skills/technique that is over-reliant on being explosive to surprise people and steam-roll them early. If he can't blitz you out of there he'll typically gas and then start to wrestle and try to sit in your guard to kill clock.

If anything I'm surprised he doesn't lean into the gambit even more and just sell-out entirely for the early finish, but he likely doesn't want to gas so hard he gets embarrassed if he can't win in round 1.

I think he's made a conscious decision to fight this way to maximize the entertainment value in his fights - his wrestling is amazing, but his control isn't great and he doesn't really have a transitional sub game or devastating GnP from guard. He could likely wet-blanket guys for the entirety of fights but then everyone would hate him and his style, so he goes sell-out early for a finish and if that doesn't work will wrestle as a last resort.

It's clearly not a proven approach or style to be the best in the world, but damn it's entertaining when you get the right opponents.

 

[mkt]

He is exciting to watch. That’s what made him a millionaire. Stick with the plan. He is short for the division and knows a John fitch style will bring in more wins but less money. Don’t think he is dumb and doesn’t know this.

Not sure if he could pull off a Fitch style now...not for 3 to 5 rounds. Fitch could still do that at 41 years old vs. Rory, but Chandler's cardio is suspect and his "mini tank" physique isn't built for that. The last fight he went 5 rounds in was Bendo. IIRC, Chandler dominated early then started gassing and Bendo got the upper hand. He ended up winning a close SD. It's worth noting that Bendo was older with more mileage but still had more endurance. Since then I think Chandler realized that style wouldn't work well...at least not for the entire fight. He should probably fight like that about 40% of the time to win rounds, though.

 

[spamking]

Definitely seemed like he goofed up and gave the fight away more than he got beat.

 

[mkt]

The other style that could possibly work for Chandler is Yoel's stall/conserve energy/occasionally explode with a superman punch of flying knee. But that's less effective in lighter weight classes where fighters are younger, faster and more active. You can get an occasional KO (like Ferguson or Hooker) but most guys will outpoint you easily.

 

[ComfortablyNumb55]

Company man.

Risks losing and his health for long-term UFC money as a figurehead.

Period.

 

[fg1985bg]

Chandlers talented enough to beat all the guys he’s lost to with the exception of Olivera. It is what it is. He has a fight that’s all in and that comes with a price.

Regardless, I still want to watch every and any fight he’s in. The problem is at this rate he might not have too many fights left in him.