Google News Michael Chandler on Dustin Poirier: That’s what made him not too happy with me
by | VIEW 309
Michael Chandler is ready to fight Dustin Poirier and expects a spectacle from such a fight. “You know it’s going to be fireworks,” Chandler told MMA Fighting. “One thing you can’t say is that Dustin’s ever been in a boring fight, or I’ve ever been in a boring fight, so it’s going to be fireworks whenever it happens”.
Chandler and Poirier had an interesting exchange of words at UFC 267. “I just heard some shouting, turned around, and realized it was Dustin kind of pointing at me,” Chandler explained. “I could tell he was talking to me.
It caught me completely off guard. I’m not there to get in verbal or physical altercations or any kind of controversy ever. That’s not my nature. Quite frankly, I shy away from it. I’m kind of a pacifist by nature in a lot of ways, except when I go out there and get paid for it inside the octagon.
“The security guards were kind of trying to pull us away, but I’m like, ‘I have to go see what he’s saying’ because it was far away, music’s playing, lights are flashing everywhere, you could hear the crowd noise, so I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
Got over and got close, and he said his piece and he’s got a problem with me”. He also explained why Poirier is not good with him, "I do think it stems back from him saying, ‘Instead of fighting Chandler, I’d rather go sell hot sauce,’” Chandler said.
“I took that as a slight, obviously, but since then accidentally really in one interview, I forgot to mention his name inside the title picture. “But that was because at that time he was talking about retirement, he was talking about never making 155 again, he was talking about going up to 170.
He was campaigning hard for the Diaz fight. So in my mind, he had already left the lightweight division. I think that’s what kind of set him off or made him not too happy with me, but I’m not really worried about it.
I respect him as a fighter. I respect everybody that I’ve fought”.
UFC Champion
His goal is to become a UFC champion. “I wake up every morning thinking about being a UFC champion,” Chandler said. “I’ve had one crack at it.
Dustin’s now had a couple cracks at it. He’s talked about going up to 170. I think it’s hard for him to make the weight. I think he’s talked about retiring. He’s talked about passion, he’s talked about desire, does he have it any more? He’s talked about fighting Nate Diaz.
We all know what going after a fight against Nate Diaz [means]. It begs the question — does he truly believe he’s one of the best in the world anymore?
