Michael Chandler had a tough time of it against Charles Oliveira.
This past Saturday, Chandler rematched Oliveira in the co-main event of UFC 309, losing a decision in a five-round war. It was Chandler’s first fight in two years and the former Bellator lightweight champion had a difficult welcome back to the octagon as he told Bussin’ With The Boys on Wednesday.
“My body is jacked,” Chandler said. “My heart is full. Let’s start with the heart. My heart is full. … I’m just happy to be home. It was good. I had a phenomenal training camp, we went to war, we did our thing.
“My body, the most pain I’ve ever been in my entire life. The most injuries I’ve had in a fight, for sure. Peed blood, inflammation all over, my whole body is swollen. … The first [blood in my urine] was very light, which was in my drug test. … It had a light tint and the second one was beet looking juice. It was dark.”
On top of all that, Chandler also revealed that he injured his knee early in the fight, saying that he believes it came during an exchange in the first round and severely hampered his ability throughout.
“I think something happened to the knee in that first exchange when he had the leg and I did that full 360, he did a kneebar thing, because I walked back to the stool and I looked down at my left leg and it was not working right,” Chandler said. “It wasn’t stepping, it wasn’t catching, it was unstable, it was weird. … You know what it feels like to be on a solid foundation, to walk forward, move forward, attack, and I just wasn’t.
“Moving backwards was no problem, so my body and my brain was telling me moving backwards was cool but moving forward, planting and being in his face, pressure — even if you go back and watch the fifth [round] … whenever I was pursuing him, my leg was almost flopping rather than stalking and moving forward. …
“We’ll see what happened, but essentially for 23 minutes of that fight I don’t know if the leg was really working that well.”
Chandler added that he’s yet to have an MRI but says he’ll see to that in the coming days before making his return plans. But for now he’s tentatively targeting a return next summer at this point and whenever he comes back, he hopes it’s to finally settle his business with Conor McGregor.
“Looks like it’s going to be Conor next,” Chandler said. “I’m not saying it’s a real reality, but I am saying if he does his road comes straight through Nashville, Tennessee. His road back to the UFC, we have to finish The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC wants to finish The Ultimate Fighter, Conor wants to fight me. He can fight anybody, but he made a commitment. …
“He’s more sentimental and romantic about the sport than people give him credit for because he has become this big, infamous brand. But he knows he’s nothing without that UFC octagon, he knows he’s nothing without the UFC. He was a plumber on welfare sleeping on a couch and without the UFC, he’s nothing.
“So I think he wants to see through to his commitment. Quite frankly, he needs to come back, he needs something to chase or else he’s going to keep chasing the wrong things. And if he does, there’s a guy waiting and I just so happen to think I’m one of the top draws in the UFC. People will pay good money to watch me fight, no matter what.”
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