Former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez has one piece of advice for Michael Chandler.
Former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez has experience fighting both men, and he isn’t liking Michael Chandler’s chances against Justin Gaethje. So much so that he wants Chandler to avoid taking a fight against “The Highlight.”
“I think Gaethje is a terrible match-up for him,” Alvarez recently told SunSport. “And I think he should probably stay away from Gaethje. That’s not a good match-up for him.
“But we’ll see, man. It’s really up to him and his desire. We’ll only know on fight night.”
Alvarez has a 2017 KO over Gaethje in the UFC, and has also gone 1-1 with Chandler in Bellator in 2011 and 2013.
Gaethje vs. Chandler is a matchup that the UFC is currently looking at, with company president Dana White expecting it to be a “fun fight.” Chandler already welcomed the idea, but it all depends on the timing. He also says the UFC tried to book the fight “a thousand times,” but it ended up falling through.
“Gaethje needs a dance partner, that’s for sure,” Chandler told MMA Junkie in a recent interview. “I don’t know if he’s gonna want to wait as long as I need to wait, though. So, we’ll see what happens.
“I’m taking a little bit of time off. My health is my number one priority. Being a father and a husband, long-term longevity, that’s my number one priority. It’s no secret, I took some damage in that (Oliveira) fight, the fight ended, got finished.
“The name Justin Gaethje’s been thrown around a thousand times, he said no numerous times. I think the good thing is, and that’s actually what the UFC said, too. ‘Hey, now that you lost inside the UFC, maybe one of these guys will actually say yes to fight you.’”
Gaethje hasn’t fought since October at UFC 254 when he lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov via submission.