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Michael Chandler: if Eddie Alvarez can beat Justin Gaethje, I can definitely beat Gaethje.

The only way to know in my opinion is to let the fight happen.
 
mkt said:
I agree. Eddie-Justin was 2017 years ago, and a lot can change in 4 years. Gaethje made some big improvements to his striking game as you mentioned. Eddie was 33 when he fought Gaethje, still in the twilight of his prime. Gaethje is now 32, but Chandler is 35...and could rapidly age (like Tony Ferguson) at any time.

Chandler best chance is to get and keep Gaethje on the ground and hunt for a sub. While Chandler's grappling is good, I don't think it's nearly on Khabib's level. Khabib is the only one to take Justin (a D1 wrestler like Chandler) down and manhandle him like that. But Chandler has a strong brawling instinct so I don't know how much he'll want to wrestle.
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I keep forgetting Chandler is 35. He’s aged fairly well but I’d suspect he only has a year or two left. And recently getting TKO’d isn’t helping his causes.
 
If Chandler got TKOed by an Oliveira left hook he can get knocked the fuck out by a Gaethje left hook.
 
Gaethje is a different fighter now. A lot more patient. He used to not give a shit about defense and let himself get beat down and finished over the course of a fight.
 
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Alvarez only managed to defeat Gaethje due to exhaustion.
 
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What a carefully picked title. Makes Chandler sound pretty dumb and egotistical.

Here's all of Chandler's quotes without the nonsense.

On his loss:
I blame this completely on myself. I took one on the chin. I didn’t have my hand up and Charles Oliveira was able to finish me. I was very close to finishing him in the first round, which probably makes it even harder to accept. The fact that I was a split second or one second or one more punch of becoming the UFC lightweight champion but I lost in the second round. I got finished in the second round. I’m taking full ownership of that.

I’ve been in contact with my coaches promising that I’m going to be more disciplined in my striking. I’m going to be more disciplined in my approach to the game. We make some adjustments, we go back to the drawing boards. I am by no means anywhere close to being done with this sport.

On Justin:
I think Gaethje-Chandler is probably the biggest fan favorite fight on the entire planet right now. I think he becomes a part of my highlight reel or I become a part of his highlight reel and both of us come forward and enjoy a good old fashioned, passionate scrap. That’s how he’s wired. That’s how I’m wired. Justin Gaethje’s been on the tips of the UFC’s tongue, our tongue, myself and my management, since we signed with the UFC. It just hasn’t worked out that way for numerous different reasons.

On when:
Timing right now is the issue. I just fought eight days ago, 10 days ago, whatever it was, he hasn’t fought in eight or 10 months at this point. It’s going to be a timing thing. You’ve got Beneil Dariush, who just fought, obviously he wants some time off because of his family. Who knows. All I know, the top five in the UFC is aplenty when it comes to talent and that’s a fight that I would welcome. It’s just got to make sense on the timeline and I tell you what, people will be chomping at the bit to see that fight.

On Eddie's comment they Justin is a bad matchup & Eddie himself:
Well No. 1, you can’t look at the top five, top six guys and there’s scenarios where we are all bad matchups for each other and we are all good matchups for each other. It’s all the upper echelon, it’s all the top five, top six on the entire planet at a certain weight class. I’ll tell you this — if Eddie Alvarez can beat Justin Gaethje, I can definitely beat Justin Gaethje. I won’t just TKO him. I believe I’ll knock Justin Gaethje out cold. I’ll keep a high pace just like Eddie did. It will be a very fun fight. It’s a fight people want to see.

I appreciate Eddie. Eddie’s a guy, I spent almost 50 minutes in the cage with. We never got that trilogy to happen so maybe sometime down the line, we can make it happen. It’s all part of it. You’ve got to respect Eddie. Eddie’s a legend. He is 100 percent a Hall of Famer when it comes to lightweights. One of the greatest lightweights of all time. I’m going to have to have a conversation with him and see what he thinks.
 
If Charles can TKO Chandler, Justin would put him in a coma.
 
Chandler seems to have accepted his loss well so that's a good thing. One thing I disagree about from him and others is how close he was to finishing the fight in round 1. It looks like Chandler is landing but from other angles, do Bronx mostly avoided any big strikes. I didn't think he was anywhere close to being finished.
 
It's a really great fight! Is it official yet? I think I've only seen that it was in the plans.
 
I don't think he has a snowball's chance in hell.
 
The question remains,...where the hell is Gaethje?
 
Small Town Andrew said:
Khabib is very good but Justin did not fight like himself. A lot of Justin fans myself included were very disappointed in his performance. Its not the fact that he lost but how he lost. He fought like a coward on the feet and literally ran from Khabib multiple times. It was obvious why when he got taken down however because it was clear his ground game is absolutely atrocious. I know no one looks good on the ground with Khabib and there is no shame in him submitting you. Justin looked so much worst than anyone else has however and was completely clueless and horrified as soon as it got there.

Hope he fixes that hole in his game because he is probably the most entertaining guy in the UFC to watch
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He fought like that because Khabib made him fought like that. The feints and the pressure overloaded his brain. Khabib didn't give him time to settle in once he started pressuring him. Khabib probably hit harder than he expected. The teep kicks probably threw him off too.
 
mkt said:
Yeah, those were 8 and 10 years ago. Chandler didn't look so durable in his rematch with Will Brooks a few years later. I woudn't assume 35-year old Chandler can take the same punishment. Not everyone is Tony Ferguson in their mid-30s.
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Justin didn't look so durable against Michael Johnson, Alvarez or Dustin.

Either guy has the ability to shut the others lights off. I don't see it as anything other than a 50/50 battle of attrition.
 
dipstickjimmy said:
Justin didn't look so durable against Michael Johnson, Alvarez or Dustin.

Either guy has the ability to shut the others lights off. I don't see it as anything other than a 50/50 battle of attrition.
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The point is that Gaethje changed his style and showed he can fight for 5 rounds and avoid a lot of damage in the Tony fight. Chandler is older and still has the "kill or be killed" mentality.
 
Of course he can beat Justin just like he can beat any of the top 5 in the division. The problem is he can also lose to the top 5 in the division also so it's not much of a proclamation.
 
dipstickjimmy said:
You realize he went 5 rounds with Eddie in a Split Decision and finished Eddie in the 4th round of their first fight which was a FOTY contender.
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My point was to Chandler being able to handle punishment from Gaethje for 3-5 rounds, not Eddie.
 
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