Michael Chandler is set to take on Tony Ferguson at UFC 274. The fight is a must-win for both men and both have a very exciting style that has many people exciting about the lightweight contest.
Ahead of UFC 274, Michael Chandler spoke on the DC & RC podcast and he did not hold back on Tony Ferguson. The former Bellator champion wants big fights and he made it clear this was not a step back.
Article Continues Below“I don’t [feel like it’s a step back],” Chandler said of Ferguson fight. “Because we’re all governed by time and circumstance. If you look at the division, a lot of guys are tied up. You got [Dustin] Poirier talking about going up to 170 to fight [Nate] Diaz, Beneil Dariush and [Islam] Makhachev are scheduled to fight each other, Conor [McGregor] possibly coming back, obviously we got the title fight with [Justin] Gaethje and [Charles] Oliveira happening on May 7. So Tony Ferguson has always been a perennial top guy.”
Michael Chandler also made it clear that although it's a tough fight, it's still a very winnable fight for him. The lightweight expects a very fun fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 274.
“We’re only a couple years removed from that illustrious 12-fight win streak that he was on, when he looked unbeatable, possibly could’ve even beaten Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. There’s a lot of who were picking him to beat Khabib. Would that have happened? We don’t know because we never saw it but I see Tony Ferguson as a guy who is still extremely dangerous, still always performs well even when he runs into the toughest guys in the division,” Chandler explained.
“That’s what we’re doing,” he continued. “And when you’re fighting the toughest guys in the division, you’re gonna take losses. You could beat anybody on a given night and you can lose to any of these guys on any given night. He’s lost a couple but I’m excited to go out there, I don’t necessarily think it’s a step back but it’s a winnable fight that’s for darn sure.”