The recent weight cut was the reason why Michael Chandler didn’t end up fighting Tony Ferguson.
Chandler had been campaigning to fight Ferguson for weeks with the latter finally being receptive to the idea as he called for a December 12 showdown at the UFC 256 pay-per-view event.
However, Chandler wanted to fight at the UFC 257 card on January 23 which didn’t work out for Ferguson who was promptly booked to face surging contender Charles Oliveira at UFC 256 instead.
While that is a great fight in itself — arguably even better — many were wondering what led to Chandler not getting the fight despite previously calling for it. According to UFC president Dana White, it was the fact that he cut weight last month as an alternate for the Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje title fight.
“He just cut weight. He had just cut the weight in Abu Dhabi so he couldn’t do it,” White said at the UFC 255 post-fight press conference. “So you know how we do it, how we roll — we make fights and these fights will happen and we’ll see what’s next for Chandler.”
With Conor McGregor set to face Dustin Poirier, that leaves Justin Gaethje and Dan Hooker as the only options as opponents for Chandler.
White agrees but for now, nothing is set.
“I don’t know. I mean, yeah, obviously those are the two guys that are left but I don’t know,” White added. “We’ll see how it all plays out.”
Who do you think Chandler should face for his UFC debut?