Yes the irony doesnt escape me to call another fighter priviliged on a Jon Jones card, but hear me out. This doesnt take away from his Bellator career (which in many ways could be argued as the opposite of his ufc career), but man, when it comes to high risk matchups in the ufc, Chandler really doesnt know the meaning of the word imo.
If we look at his career, he debuted against no. 5 at the time Dan hooker and Kod him, he then fought for the vacant title against Oliveira (lost by KO), then fought no.2 at the time Justin Gaethje, lost in a FOTN but still lost, then fought Tony coming off a 3 fight loss streak, KO'd him in round 2, and then fought at the time no.2 ranked Poirier and lost by 3rd round submission. On paper, this looks like murderers row and fair play, hes been competitive in all of his losses against arguably the best. But the fact remains, these were all low risk matchups. Chandlers stock didnt really drop in any of his losses in the UFC as he was only fighting guys who were consistently in the top 5. Maybe this is an indication of his level, but at the same time, in his entire UFC career, hes never fought anyone on the comeup who could be a potential banana peal.
Let me put it this way. Dustin fought and beat BSD, Gaethje fought and beat Fiziev, Charles fought and beat Dariush and then fought and had a close loss to Arman. In theory, all three of these legends had little to gain from their matchups, but fought young fighters traditionally outside of the top 5, as a way of "honouring the sport", fighting what many considered at the time, high risk, low reward matchups. Beating BSD (though he was on a 5 fight win streak) and beating Fiziev, was seen more as their opponents being fraudchecked than it was Dustin or Justin having career defining wins. Conversely Chandler has never fought in his UFC career, someone who could be considred an up and comer. The only time he did fight backwards in the rankings was when he fought a nearly 40 year old, 3 loss streak Tony ferguson (who nearly finished him in the first). In fact, he ducked both Islam and Arman when they were on the comeup (especially funny now that he claims hes both of their stylistic nightmare)...
If any other fighter in Chandlers position ducked up and coming contenders in the way he had, they would be called out frequently by the fanbase and pundits alike. Chandler, for some reason, seems to be immune to it. So instead of fighting an up and comer in a high risk, low reward fight , hes sidelined for two years to coach TUF against McGregor and eventually fight him in what is a high reward, low risk fight. Again, goes back to the point of Chandler never having to have any real stakes in his UFC fights that really harm his reputation as an "elite LW".
As a final point, consider this Sherbros, after waiting for two years for McGregor, literally ducking contenders and potential matchups, Chandler is then rewarded with a no.1 contenders fight in a rematch against the no.2 ranked fighter in the world (who he was beating in the first round of their fight by 10-8) and who has actually been fighting up and comers in high risk low reward fights. Can you seriously imagine, any fighter who hasnt been a champ in the organisation or done anythign of any real signficance, being able to be 2-3 in the promotion, having only fought in low risk matchups, actively duck contenders as he sits out for money fight, and then comeback for a chance at revenge and a no.1 contenders fight?
I know Jones may have pictures of Dana, but seriously, Chandler might as well be giving Danathe rusty trombone with the number of opportunities and priviliges hes getting. Maybe thats what he was referring to in the Ariel interview.
Interested to know your thoughts Sherbros?
