Michael Chandler, 0-3 at the Garden, eyes UFC 309 reversal of fortune
Michael Chandler is a glass-half-full kind of guy.
But even an optimist like this UFC lightweight contender doesn’t feel the need to dance around how he’s fared competing in the heart of Manhattan over the years.
“It’s OK. You can say I’m 0-and-3 at Madison Square Garden,” says a good-natured Chandler, cutting off the setup to a question from The Post during a recent video call. “That’s OK. Let’s just get that out of the way right there. Don’t be afraid to beat around the bush. I have never won inside of Madison Square Garden.
“So, I’m deciding to change that this time,” he continues, confirming how much water is in the glass.
The fourth time can be a charm for Chandler (23-8, 18 finishes) on Nov. 16, when he competes for the first time in two years in the UFC 309 five-round, co-main event against former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira with what UFC CEO Dana White is promoting as a title shot up for grabs.
It just so happens that his most recent fight came at the Garden in November 2022, where the former Bellator lightweight title holder tapped out to a third-round, rear-naked choke against Dustin Poirier.
That loss came just over a year after coming out on the wrong end of a decision against Justin Gaethje in the fight of the year that gave the crowd at the World’s Most Famous Arena exactly what it expected and more.
By that point, Chandler already had a loss on his ledger at the Garden: a first-round TKO via doctor stoppage in Bellator’s June 2017 debut at the venue, which cost him his 155-pound crown against Brent Primus after suffering a nerve injury in his leg.
The past in no way deterred Chandler from the assignment, which he takes as an honor from the UFC.
“It’s a huge blessing to be considered for the Madison Square Garden card,” Chandler says of the promotion’s annual November tradition that started in 2016 — but took a 2020 break due to COVID. “They don’t just throw anybody on the Madison Square Garden card. The UFC puts guys and gals on the fight card that are going to put on a great show.”
This year’s main attraction is a retry of last year’s unsuccessful attempt at heavyweight champion Jon Jones defending his title against former champ Stipe Miocic in a fight that was scrapped weeks before fight night due to a Jones injury.
Chandler says he bumped into Jones at UFC 306 in September, promising the legendary big man he would “steal the show.”
“He’s like, ‘Hey man, make sure you save some excitement for me because I’m the main event.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, probably not, man,’ ” recalls Chandler, who earned Fight of the Night honors in each of his last two Garden visits.
The two-year layoff from competition wasn’t how Chandler would have scripted it, as he was meant to face superstar Conor McGregor to close the book on the buildup during their time as opposing coaches on the season of “The Ultimate Fighter” that originally aired in 2023.
After a longer-than-expected delay in booking the fight, the two were scheduled to throw down in late June and anchor UFC 303, but a fractured pinky toe led to McGregor pulling the plug on what would have been his first fight in three years.
Again, ever the optimist, Chandler took positives away from his time out of action, even as several of his peers in the higher reaches of the lightweight rankings scoffed at holding out for a fight that failed to materialize.
“Having that much time off, I needed it. I really needed it,” Chandler explains. “Six training camps in a 26-month period, every single fight was do or die — top-three, top-five guy, world title fights, fights of the night, fights of the year. And I love the sport; I am so blessed to do the sport of mixed martial arts as a professional and get paid for it and feed my family with it, but it was taking a toll on me. I needed some time off.”
With body and soul refreshed, the 38-year-old Chandler seems to find himself a win away from a second chance at the elusive UFC gold he has chased since arriving from his previous promotion in 2020.
Oliveira (34-10, 31 finishes) is the reason the first try went against him, as the Brazilian rallied following a big Chandler first round to stop the former Missouri collegiate wrestling standout via TKO just 19 seconds into the next round to claim what had been a vacant championship.
Chandler chalks up the loss to a lack of time to “grow” in the UFC, fighting for the title four months after an electric TKO of Dan Hooker in debut with the promotion while facing Oliveira, who had debuted with the UFC 11 years earlier.
“I had almost no time to really process and build and grow,” Chandler said. “I’m 38 years old. I was 34 back then, but I’m still growing. We’re all still growing as human beings, and I just wasn’t where I needed to be. I went in there very confident. I put in a great training camp, but I went out there to try to kill Charles Oliveira in the first second of the first round — 10-8’d him in the first round — and I just wasn’t able to keep that pace.
“I made a bad decision, put myself in some bad spots. I wasn’t fighting to the best of my ability, and I’ve since fixed all of those things, mainly mentally and spiritually.”
Three years later, Chandler has the unique chance to reverse his fortunes both against Oliveira and at the venue where they will square off, all while lining up a chance to face the winner of next year’s expected title fight between champion Islam Makhachev and challenger Arman Tsarukyan.
“It’s going to be a masterful performance,” Chandler promises. “And I think I’m going to surgically and systematically break this man down until he looks for the exit sign, and I’m going to go out there and I’m going to finish.”
“This version of me, Chandler 2.0, is much different than Chandler 1.0 that he fought at UFC 262 in Houston,” he added. “And I’m excited to go out there and not just show him that but show the entire world.”
