Top Lightweight Predicts He’d Beat Khabib ’10 Out Of 10′ Fights
Former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler has every intention of re-signing with the promotion he’s fought for more than eight years.
Chandler has fought more than any other fighter for Bellator and has won the lightweight strap on two separate occasions. Although ‘Iron’ Mike plans on resigning with the Paramount Network-based promotion, he’s still contemplated how a fight with newly crowned UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov would go.
Recently speaking with MMA Junkie Radio, Chandler confidently brashly predicts he would beat Nurmagomedov 10 times out of 10:
“(You) can’t deny that I’m one of the top lightweights in the world. It’s exciting. It’s enticing. There are a lot of great fights in the lightweight division, and I want to see what happens next.”
“That’s the thing: From the outside perspective, people always think, ‘Bellator, UFC, ONE FC, blah blah blah. I don’t think about promotions, I think about the guys. How do I match up against Khabib? How do I take exactly what Al Iaquinta did, except with my wrestling, and my striking, and my wrestling offense and defense.
“How I would nullify his takedowns, how I would even take him down, how I would get in his face, and how he would finally have somebody put hands on him and hurt him like Michael Johnson did? I think that picture has been painted a couple of times, of how to beat Khabib. And I think I beat him 10 times out of 10.”
Chandler only lost his belt after he rolled his ankle in a title defense against Brett Primus last year but has since rebounded with victories over Goiti Yamauchi and Brandon Girtz.
Meanwhile, in the UFC’s lightweight division, Nurmagomedov defeated Al Iaquinta in a short-notice title fight at April 7’s UFC 223 after Tony Ferguson and initial replacement Max Holloway couldn’t make it to the fight due to injury and weight issues, respectively.
Do you think Chandler could beat Nurmagomedov once, let alone 10 times in 10 match-ups?
