Michael Chandler is hoping to have a different story in the UFC compared to Ben Askren.
Chandler makes his highly-anticipated debut against Dan Hooker in the co-main event of UFC 257 on Saturday night. It’s a big spotlight for the former Bellator lightweight champion who joined the promotion with plenty of hype as well as self-proclaimed claims that he was the best lightweight in the world.
Of course, every fighter should believe they’re the best and while fighters coming from smaller promotions have done well in the UFC like Justin Gaethje, there are some who have underwhelmed despite plenty of hype such as Askren.
Comparisons between Chandler and Askren are only inevitable, especially if the former doesn’t get an emphatic victory this weekend. But as far as the 34-year-old is concerned, he expects his UFC stint to go very differently than Askren’s.
“Listen, I’m well-aware of Ben’s fights in the UFC, his stint in the UFC,” Chandler told media recently (via The Body Lock). “I’m well-aware he seemed to be more bark than he was bite in his UFC career, I guess, going 1-2. But I can guarantee right now Ben Askren lays his head on his pillow at night and sleeps like a baby knowing that he came to the UFC, he put his best foot forward, he came up short a couple of times.
“It remains to be seen what the Michael Chandler story will be. I believe it’s going to be a lot different than Ben’s. That doesn’t make me any better or any worse than him. He’s a dear friend of mine, like a big brother to me. So we will see how the story is told. There’s a lot of people comparing me to Ben Askren, which, there’s the Mizzou connection, the friendship that we have. We shall see.”
There are only a few days to go to see if that will be the case.
Do you expect Chandler to find more success in the UFC than Askren?