Charles Oliveira left and UFC No 4. Lightweight Michael Chandler right face off for the UFC Lightweight Championship Belt at an open-to-the-public press conference (Imago)
Michael Chandler was the backup fighter for the fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje at UFC 254
Chandler came inches close to winning the lightweight title at UFC 262. The UFC newcomer knocked down his opponent Charles Oliveira in the first round, but he failed to secure the finish.
Oliveira came out as the stronger man in the second round, as he needed just 19 seconds to finish off the former Bellator king.
Had Chandler won the lightweight title, he would have done so in only his second fight in the promotion.
UFC’s lightweight GOAT, Khabib Nurmagomedov revealed in an interview with RT Sport that it wouldn’t have been fair if Chandler had become the UFC champion after just 2 fights in the promotion.
Khabib was quoted as saying:
“It’d be sad if Chandler won, if he became champion after 2 UFC fights, it wouldn’t be right.” [via RT Sport YouTube]
Khabib also revealed the reason behind his feeling that Chandler didn’t deserve to be a UFC champion after just making an entry last year.
The Russian felt that Oliveira who had been a long-standing UFC fighter deserved every bit of the title because of the form he has been in since 2017.
Here is what Khabib had to say:
“He deserves to be a lightweight champion. What does he have, 8 wins in a row? And 7 of those 8 were finishes. Only the Ferguson fight went to decision. I think he deserves the belt, so many finishes and UFC records.”
There you have it, the lightweight GOAT himself has spoken. Oliveira is now expected to defend his lightweight title against the winner of the trilogy bout between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.
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