With Quinton “Rampage” Jackson still firmly committed to leaving the UFC following his fight with Glover Teixeira at UFC on Fox 6, the question on the mind of many fans is: “Where will he go next?” The same goes for ex-UFC, Pride and Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett, who is now looking for his home following […]
With Quinton “Rampage” Jackson still firmly committed to leaving the UFC following his fight with Glover Teixeira at UFC on Fox 6, the question on the mind of many fans is: “Where will he go next?” The same goes for ex-UFC, Pride and Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett, who is now looking for his home following […]
The wait is almost over for Michael Chandler.After blitzing his way through the Bellator lightweight tournament and toppling one of the world’s best at 155 pounds in 2011, the following year was at the opposite end of the spectrum. The former Missouri …
The wait is almost over for Michael Chandler.
After blitzing his way through the Bellator lightweight tournament and toppling one of the world’s best at 155 pounds in 2011, the following year was at the opposite end of the spectrum. The former Missouri wrestling standout had only one showing in 2012, a non-title bout against Akihiro Gono, where it only took Chandler 54 seconds of work to get the job done.
It was no doubt an impressive performance against a seasoned veteran, but Chandler was eager to keep his progress rolling. When Olympic judoka Rick Hawn emerged as the winner of Bellator’s sixth lightweight tournament, the 26-year-old champion finally had his next assignment. But with the promotion’s preparing to roll out a new format with Spike TV in 2013, the organization’s two top lightweights were put on the shelf until the new year.
The young champion will finally get the opportunity to defend his title when he mixes it up with Hawn this Thursday night at Bellator 85.
“I had a great camp and I’ve made a lot of improvements,” Chandler told Bleacher Report. “I haven’t really taken any time off since my last fight and I’ve spent a lot of time in the gym. I’m still healthy, happy, and young. I’m feeling better than ever and believe I’m going to be the best fighter I’ve ever been.”
While both men have progressed to become well-rounded mixed martial artists, the matchup will potentially boil down to their respective pedigrees. Chandler is a former All-American wrestler who has transitioned his mat skills to become an aggressive takedown artist inside the cage. When you add in his continued progression in the striking and submission aspects of the game, it is easy to see why there is so much buzz surrounding the Missouri-native.
The same can be said for Hawn. The 36-year-old has added a powerful striking game to his world-class judo skills, and has proven to be dangerous wherever the fight takes place. That being said, Chandler believes his overall skill set will be too much for the Oregon-native to handle, and is looking forward to locking up with the Team Tri-Star fighter.
“Not to discredit Rick, but I feel like I’m more talented in every aspect of fighting,” Chandler said. “He’s a great competitor, and a tough guy, but I feel like I’ve progressed and my stand up and wrestling skills are just a little bit better. I’m in great shape and prepared to push the pace for 25 minutes if I have to. I’ll be looking for the finish and I don’t see why I won’t be able to beat him up pretty bad, wear him down, and hopefully get the finish later on in the fight. That is kind of the plan. Again, not to discredit him at all. He does have Olympic level judo, but that is something I believe my wrestling is going to be able to counteract very well. Obviously he has a good right hand he’s been able to knock a couple of guys out with. I need to stay away from that, stick and move, get in and out, and win the fight.
“I was never an upper body wrestler. I am a shooter. I get in on your legs and take you down. I think overall body awareness and knowing exactly where I need to be makes a big difference. Knowing how much weight to put on each foot or where I need to put my hands are things I’m very good at. Obviously with the wrestling background those are things that come naturally.
“His judo is great but I don’t see him using it a ton against me,” Chandler added. “It’s not like he’s throwing everybody on their heads. Granted it happens, but he isn’t out there dumping people on their heads every single fight. He does get some good take downs with trips, but I just don’t see those things happening to me with the amount of wrestling I’ve had. I’m excited to see. I could talk to you in two weeks and say, ‘how bout that time he threw me on my head.’ Who knows what is going to happen?”
Since winning the Bellator lightweight title, Chandler has made the transition of switching his training from Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas to Alliance MMA in San Diego. In a sport of constant evolution like mixed martial arts, it is crucial for a fighter to continue to progress his talents. Often times, that requires getting new looks and insights and Chandler felt the move was necessary to keep his growth as a fighter rolling in the right direction.
“It’s been a great experience,” Chandler said. “Training in Las Vegas at Xtreme Couture was awesome and I was there for almost two years. But now I’m training at Alliance and there are new coaches and training partners I have to work with. There are always a ton of different people to learn from and people that are pushing me to get better. No one takes it easy on me at all. It’s been a great fit for me and I feel like it was a great decision to come down here. I haven’t looked back since and I definitely feel like it was the right decision. I’ve gotten a ton better and I can’t complain one bit.”
When Chandler and Hawn step into the cage this Thursday night in California, it will be the premier showcase of Bellator’s debut on Spike TV. Both the promotion and the network have big plans for the coming year, and are looking to make a major impact on the MMA landscape in 2013. For a surging fighter like Chandler, the partnership presents many interesting opportunities and he’s excited to reach a the new audience Spike TV presents.
“It is a great opportunity to fight on a big stage,” Chandler said. “It’s the biggest stage I’ve ever been on and it’s exciting. I’m ready to go out there and perform. It’s exciting to go out there and fight for the fans who have been with me since the start, the fans I’ve picked up along the way, and the new ones who haven’t really watched a ton of Bellator because it has been on ESPN Deportes, Fox Sports, and MTV2. Now it is on Spike. When you talk about being able to reach a ton of people, Spike TV makes that possible. I’m pretty excited about the situation.”
First and foremost, we have to thank CP reader Walter Cardenas, who passed along the news (or lack thereof) regarding the much anticipated Spike TV/K-1 deal that was set to kick off in late 2012. And unfortunately, those of you who were looking forward to seeing the Japanese promotion both stateside and on a semi-major network in 2013 are in for some bad news, because according to multiple sources, the deal has already been killed. For starters, the promotion’s webpage on Spike.com is blank. And in less speculative news, Spike TV president Kevin Kay stated the following in an interview with MMAFighting:
We’re probably not going to move forward and continue with K-1. It was a little bit of an experiment. Those guys are great. We’re trying to figure out our kickboxing plans. It did okay. It was a digital play (K-1 aired on Spike.com late 2012). There are other things we can do in the kickboxing spectrum.
News of K-1’s demise (you know, their fourth or so in the past few years) started way back in July of 2012, when promotion insiders declared that the event they had targeted for the end of December at the Madison Square Garden would be “unfeasible.”
(Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.)
First and foremost, we have to thank CP reader Walter Cardenas, who passed along the news (or lack thereof) regarding the much anticipated Spike TV/K-1 deal that was set to kick off in late 2012. And unfortunately, those of you who were looking forward to seeing the Japanese promotion both stateside and on a semi-major network in 2013 are in for some bad news, because according to multiple sources, the deal has already been killed. For starters, the promotion’s webpage on Spike.com is blank. And in less speculative news, Spike TV president Kevin Kay stated the following in an interview with MMAFighting:
We’re probably not going to move forward and continue with K-1. It was a little bit of an experiment. Those guys are great. We’re trying to figure out our kickboxing plans. It did okay. It was a digital play (K-1 aired on Spike.com late 2012). There are other things we can do in the kickboxing spectrum.
News of K-1′s demise (you know, their fourth or so in the past few years) started way back in July of 2012, when promotion insiders declared that the event they had targeted for the end of December at the Madison Square Garden would be “unfeasible.” Although Kay mentioned the possibility of a similar deal with rival kickboxing promotion GLORY down the line, he made sure to emphasize that for the time being, Spike’s focus would be on that of Bellator:
[GLORY] was a great night of fights and we’re impressed by the organization and continuing discussions. There are serious discussions also as well as discussions with Bjorn (Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney) with any potential partners we get into kickboxing with. Right now we’re launching Bellator. We’re all about Bellator. If we do end up in the Glory business, that’s going to be a little later down the line. We don’t want anything to get in the way of our launch with Bellator.
And conveniently enough, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has also displayed some interest in a cross-promotion, even going as far as to say that he would loan out his fighters to the kickboxing promotion if they so desired:
We’ve got a different view on the fight business from the other guys (UFC). If we can find the right kind of guys, we’d like those (kickboxing) promoters to keep our guys busy if they’d like to fight as kickboxers. And we’d also like to bring guys in from other organizations. It just depends on the right guys. Kickboxing is wildly fun to watch and it’s exciting. Not all our guys can make a great transition from MMA to kickboxing, or from kickboxing to MMA. But for those who can, we’d like to bring that knockout excitement with them to our shows.
So there you have it, K-1 continues to die a slow, agonizing death that would make even Strikeforce cringe with disgust. But because I’m all about ending on a positive note, upon checking the GLORY website, I discovered that Tyrone Spong is set to face Remy Bojansky at GLORY 5 on March 13th, and let me tell you, that fight is going to be insane. I know, contain your excitement.
Well, this one seemed pretty clear to call. MMA Junkie reports that one of the first honors of the night at the 2012 World MMA Awards went to the UFC, as the company won “Best Promotion” over some of its most prominent rivals. Since the UFC remains the world’s largest and most valuable mixed martial […]
Well, this one seemed pretty clear to call. MMA Junkie reports that one of the first honors of the night at the 2012 World MMA Awards went to the UFC, as the company won “Best Promotion” over some of its most prominent rivals. Since the UFC remains the world’s largest and most valuable mixed martial […]
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal: MMA fighter, pro wrestler…and boxer? If Lawal has his way, then yes. Recently, Bloody Elbow uncovered that Lawal actually had a boxing clause placed in his contract with Bellator Fighting Championships. When Bloody Elbo…
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal: MMA fighter, pro wrestler…and boxer? If Lawal has his way, then yes.
Recently, Bloody Elbow uncovered that Lawal actually had a boxing clause placed in his contract with Bellator Fighting Championships. When Bloody Elbow writer Stephie Daniels (a.k.a. “Crooklyn”) asked Lawal to elaborate, he did—he also mentioned famed Internet brawler Kimbo Slice as a potential opponent.
“I got a boxing clause in my contract,” Lawal said. “[Bellator CEO] Bjorn [Rebney] said that he was going to get me fights. But the thing with the contract is that we gotta agree on the opponent. But someone like Kimbo Slice? I’d be alright. We could hype that up, they can get behind me.”
Slice—whose real name is Kevin Ferguson—had a 4-2 run in MMA before he turned to professional boxing, where he is currently undefeated at 6-0. His most recent win was in October 2012.
“I think King Mo vs. Kimbo Slice would be a good boxing match,” said Lawal. “I got good training, he’s got good training. I want to make it happen. So my main goal is to get through this tournament, win it, defend it, defend the belt once or twice and after that get that fight with Kimbo.”
This may be more than just errant daydreaming on Lawal‘s part. A recent report by Dave Meltzer of MMAFighting.com indicated that Spike TV was interested in expanding outside of MMA.
Perhaps Spike can achieve some sort of holy trinity as far as combat sports on TV is concerned. The network has adequate MMA programming with Bellator (and if Bellator‘s Spike TV debut on Jan. 17 is as good as it says it’ll be, then Spike will have more-than-adequate MMA programming), it may someday have kickboxing and if King Mo has his way, it will have a boxing match that’s sure to do well ratings-wise.
King Mo is an ambitious personality. Bellator is an ambitious MMA promotion. Spike TV is an ambitious network. The synergy of all three of these entities will be something truly memorable and unique. Don’t change the channel anytime soon.
To Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler, main-eventing Bellator’s Spike TV debut opposite Rick Hawn isn’t that big of a deal. In fact, the lightweight champ is unimpressed with himself and his accolades. “It’s one of those thi…
To Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler, main-eventing Bellator’s Spike TV debut opposite Rick Hawn isn’t that big of a deal.
In fact, the lightweight champ is unimpressed with himself and his accolades.
“It’s one of those things where you gotta stay grounded,” he told the media at a conference call at which Bleacher Report was present. “You gotta realize—what I’ve accomplished so far is nothing compared to what to I want to accomplish as far as wins, as far as being able to go out there and put on great performances for the fans.”
Some MMA fans might forget the name “Michael Chandler” since he only fought once in 2012 (a 56-second destruction of Akihiro Gono in May).
But Chandler’s crowning MMA achievement was a spectacular upset victory over former champ Eddie Alvarez.
Chandler defeated a fighter good enough for the UFC in Alvarez, yet still, his name doesn’t carry more weight among fans.
Chandler was mum when asked about this unfortunate phenomenon.
“Obviously, as a young, young, hungry fighter, I’d like to be fighting three or four times a year…Since then I’ve done a lot of training…tried to get my name out there as much as possible…I really feel like I’ve grown a ton as a fighter and gotten a ton better,” he said.
For his sake, he better have grown as a fighter. Chandler’s Bellator 85 opponent Rick Hawn is no joke. Hawn is a judo Olympian who proved to be a knockout artist. He’s a dangerous opponent and one Chandler greatly anticipates fighting.
“That’s one of the best things about this fight, is the opportunity to fight a guy like Rick Hawn, a competitor like Rick Hawn,” said Chandler.
Concerning strategy against such a diverse opponent, Chandler was nonchalant.
“I don’t focus on how I’m gonna get the finish or how I would like to get the finish. I focus on just my gameplan that I’ve gone over with myself, my coaches. If the finish comes it comes,” he said.
“If not, you’re gonna see a 5-round war and I think the fans would love that. It’s gonna be an exciting fight no matter what from bell to bell, from round to round.”
An exciting fight would make many happy, especially Bellator and Spike TV brass since an entertaining scrap between the two men could a “Griffin-Bonnar” moment for Bellator, something that catapults them to the next level of popularity and brand recognition.
Michael Chandler will square off against Rick Hawn at Bellator 85 on January 17 at 10 p.m. ET on Spike TV. Chandler’s Bellator lightweight title will be at stake.
The wait is almost over for Michael Chandler.