Michael Chandler opened up and gave his honest thoughts on the back and forth UFC title fight with Charles Oliveira.
Michael Chandler came very close to becoming a UFC champion in his back-and-forth instant classic against Charles Oliveira at UFC 262. Despite the heartbreaking loss, Chandler was still willing to do a pretty in-depth and honest breakdown of the fight just a few days after.
On the clip below, Chandler gives a frame-by-frame analysis of the title fight, letting people in on what was going through his mind on each of the key moments from the contest.
One of the more interesting tidbits was when he discussed the moment he badly hurt Oliveira and came close to finishing the fight and winning the belt.
“This right here, is probably the hardest part of this entire fight to watch,” Chandler said about badly hurting Oliveira. “Charles Oliveira is essentially almost out here.
“It’s one of those deals if maybe I stopped punching, he is out, and I think I woke him back up by punching him again. But we threw the hook, chased him down. Right hand to the temple, he drops. Bang, bang, just landing shots.
“Right there he almost looks like he’s out, (but then) goes back to pulling guard. Here’s where the age old question of ‘Should you let him up? Should you just let him back to the feet?’ (Do) I think the right decision here could’ve been to let him up? Or the right decision here is to be in his guard and finish him with strikes like I have numerous people in the past? There’s a lot of times that people wilt under my pressure.”
Chandler did some damage and landed shots from Oliveira’s guard, but he did not get the finish and the round ended in that position. Seconds into the very next round, he was knocked out and Oliveira won the UFC lightweight title.
“Here is the agony of defeat, where it starts to settle in,” Chandler says as he describes the moment immediately after the loss. “You look around and you see the facial expressions of people.
“Man, that’s my fault,” a disappointed Chandler said. “I should’ve came up with the jab as a defense, instead of just throwing the right hand by itself.”