Michael Chandler, although he only achieved a record of 1 win and 2 losses in his first year at the UFC, he still believes that he will become a UFC lightweight champion by the end of 2022. This confidence is mainly due to Chandler's excellent form, although he lost to Charles Oliveira and Justin Gage, but he has a remarkable performance in both games.
Chandler clearly needs to win at least one or two games before challenging for the title again, and Dustin Povalier is the next opponent he seems to be the best fit for him.
When I came to UFC, my goal was to play all the top players. Actually, we asked for Povalier at the beginning, but he rejected me, which I was completely acceptable because I was a newcomer at the time, and he was already one of the top players in this category. Poisier has always been one of the players I want to play against the most, and his name is always on this list. I have a lot of respect for him, he is the person I admire most in the sport.
In addition to Poisier, Conner McGregor is one of Chandler's next ideal opponents. After losing to Gage in UFC 269 last December, Chandler couldn't wait to call Connor in a post-match interview.
I've been talking about the match with Connor and I think it's going to be a fantastic showdown. I want to have some big moments in my career, play some focus duels, and that's obviously one of them, and this game will take my career to the next level.
I've played against Oliveira once now and based on my performance in that game, people are looking forward to seeing the two of us play against each other again. And Gage, who is likely to be the next UFC lightweight champion, played last year's best showdown with him, and maybe I can beat him in a rematch with just a slight adjustment in my game strategy.
I love the sport and thoroughly enjoy every minute of being in an octagon cage. I don't care if I win in the end, I just want to be in the most intense duel.
Of course, Chandler knows that claiming not to care about winning or losing can be misleading, thinking that he has given up on his goal of becoming a UFC champion. In fact, Chandler is looking forward to playing Gage again in an octagon cage, only this time, in addition to the size of the game requiring five rounds, the championship title needs to be used as a chip.
I don't care whose arm the referee ends up raising, I know that failure will disappoint my supporters and overwhelm fans who think I'm going to be a UFC champion, but all I can do is be guided by failure and move on from failure. I enjoy my life and one of my favorite things about this game is that it will be a part of my career.
There is no doubt that the vast majority of boxing fans have enjoyed this game tremendously and are looking forward to seeing me and Gage play against each other again. Maybe that will become a reality in the form of a lightweight championship battle at the end of 2022, we'll see.