Uneducated fans may think Michael Chandler hit Charles Oliveira with several illegal blows during UFC 309, but everything was legit according to ‘Iron Mike.’
Michael Chandler had an entertaining scrap with Charles Oliveira at UFC 309, and he’s having an interesting post-fight media tour discussing everything that happened during the match.
In a new interview with Ariel Helwani, Chandler declared he’d beat Oliveira 9 times out of 10, which doesn’t really math out considering he’s now 0-2 against “Do Bronx.” He’s also pushing back against the perception that he’s a dirty fighter, which is something Dustin Poirier put forward after their fight and Oliveira agreed on at the UFC 309 post-fight press conference.
Oliveira accused Chandler of several fouls, but the big one people point to from their fight was in the 5th round when “Iron Mike” unleashed a barrage of punches to what looked like the back of his opponent’s head. It looked so sus that commentator Daniel Cormier repeatedly mentioned the punches.
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“I’m an honest guy,” Chandler insisted. “I try to live pretty full of integrity and full of honesty, and a narrative that has been painted is not very interesting to me. [I’m] not very happy about it.”
“I don’t think I did anything wrong,” he said of the questionable punches. “People could look at it and splice it and look at it under a fine tooth comb and a magnifying glass. But the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts say there is a line drawn from the crown of the head down to the neck, one inch variance on either side. So you’re talking about a 2 inch area on the back of someone’s head that is considered the back of the head.”
“And if you watch, 90% of the shots, most of them, almost all of them, at least where I was aiming all of them? My hand, my fist was catching the ear. So if you’re catching the ear, that is not the back of the head.”
Chandler didn’t mention his wrist and forearm, which smashed down on the back of Oliveira’s head and neck, definitely in the danger zone. But in the end, the referee didn’t say anything about it, and he’s the one in charge of enforcing the rules.
“A referee who was two feet away never said one thing about it,” Chandler said. “But you got commentators who were 35 feet away saying it’s the back of the head. And you got other people who are saying, ‘Hey, that’s the back of the head, just like the Poirier fight.’”
“Ultimately, you’re dropping a guy, you’re down you’re down on points,” he concluded. “You’re trying to hit him, and you’re trying to get him out of there. I’m not 100% thinking about that little red line between the back of the head the whole time.”
None of that is going to erase the growing perception of Chandler as a man that’s willing to test the rules as soon as things get chaotic — the natural state Chandler enjoys fighting in. This is the second fight in a row where his opponent has come out with something to say about how many fouls they sustained.
Charles Oliveira was much more good-natured about it, but if “Iron Mike” has another foul-filled match, we may start to think he’s a dirty fighter or something.