Michael Chandler Not Going to Fall for Tony Ferguson’s Bait – Needs Proper Preparation Time to Fight Him

UFC’s lightweight division is stacked with some amazing fighters and one of them is Michael Chandler. Chandler is currently ranked number 5 in the division and last entered the octagon at UFC 268.

‘Iron’ joined the UFC after becoming a free agent in August 2020. He made his debut for the promotion in January 2021, when he took on Dan Hooker. The former three-time Bellator lightweight champion made a statement with a first-round TKO of the Kiwi.

Chandler immediately became a fan favorite in the UFC. Since then, he’s fought two more times in the promotion and, despite coming out on the losing side, has put in amazing performances.

He last entered the octagon at UFC 268 and lost to Justin Gaethje. Since the fight, Chandler has talked about his potential future opponents and Conor McGregor is on the top of the list. However, there is one fighter who called him out, and it is a fight Chandler is interested in.

Recently, Tony Ferguson took to Twitter to call out Chandler, and ‘Iron‘ in a recent interview said that he would love to fight ‘El Cucuy’ but it can’t be a short notice fight.

He said, “Tony’s an interesting cat man… Twitter is a place where people talk. Tony is Tony and I respect the guy. Love the way that he fights, would love to fight him, would love to share the octagon with him. But it’s gotta be on a normal timeframe.”

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“Everybody knows what a normal timeframe is. You need 8 to 10 weeks to train for a fight. I take this sport very seriously and I take these fights very seriously. I’m not going to fight a guy on five weeks’ notice.”

Michael Chandler is also interested in fighting Nate Diaz

Ever since Chandler faced and lost to Gaethje, there has been a lot of talk about who he’ll face next. He wants to fight McGregor, but he’s out injured. Poirier and Ferguson are also there on the list. But according to Chandler, there’s one guy nobody talks about, and that’s Nate Diaz.

In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, he said, “Nobody’s ever talked about me and Nate Diaz fighting, but for some reason, I feel like me and Nate Diaz should share the octagon at some point… I’d love to fight at 170 instead of 155, I’ll tell you that much. When I fight Diaz, it’s going to be at 170, for sure.”

Diaz currently has only one fight left in his contract, and it seems like it will be against Dustin Poirier. However, one never knows with him, and a fight against Chandler just might be possible.

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Should Chandler face Ferguson next? Let us know in the comments below!