Michael Chandler has only been in the UFC for one year but he has managed to make the most of it. He has had a huge KO, UFC title fight, and a potential fight of the year.

Although he finished the year 1-2, he made it a very memorable year in the UFC. His pick for fighter of the year is actually the person he fought for the UFC lightweight title.

“What Charles Oliveira has been able to do and he’s been in the UFC for so long and now to finally capture gold and then defend his gold against the guy everyone knew was the No. 1 contender in the world if not the best lightweight in the world in Dustin Poirier. It’s been a great year for him,” Chandler stated on The Fighter vs The Writer.

“I think that would probably be my pick for Fighter of the Year. Watching what Charles Oliveira has done this year. Claiming gold and then defending it against one of the best to ever do it at lightweight, one of the greatest lightweights of all time, will inevitably be a UFC Hall of Famer Dustin Poirier. Hats off to him. I think he would be my pick for Fighter of the Year.”

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Kamaru Usman is the other pick for fighter of the year, after an excellent year in the UFC. Michael Chandler used to train with him before the Nigerian moved to Colorado.

“I think that’s the one thing that Charles had going against him,” UFC lightweight Chandler explained. “He didn’t have as many fights in the year as Kamaru did. But the one thing Kamaru has going against him, if we’re talking about Fighter of the Year, is that unfortunately, it’s almost as though we expected Kamaru to be that dominant. Our expectation of Kamaru was a little higher so when it comes to exceeding expectations and that feeling you get when you say what that guy did, that makes him Fighter of the Year, that for me is Charles Oliveira.

“Because I feel like it was unexpected. Would we have ever thought that Charles Oliveira would be the lightweight champion a year or year and a half ago? Obviously, he was still on a run but he was still fighting guys outside the top 10 and then all of a sudden comes inside the top 10 and has been finishing guys inside the top 10 for about a year or over a year. To cap it all off beating Dustin Poirier, one of the greatest to ever do it at lightweight. That’s where I see it. The exceeding of expectations for me is why I would give it to Charles.”

Michael Chandler is an excellent person to give his pick on the fighter of the year considering his experience with the two UFC champions. It will be interesting to see who ultimately gets the nod.