Michael Chandler Gunning To Prove He's Still Top Fighter Vs. Paddy Pimblett At UFC 314

TMZ

Michael Chandler could walk away an MMA great today ... but the lightweight title contender believes he's still got a ton left in the tank, and he's intent on proving it when he steps into the Octagon against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 314!

Transcript

00:00the ufc loves putting on big fights fights that make sense fights fights that get people

00:06intrigued right patty pimples brand you know and his brand is you either love him or you hate him

00:11right but all but either way he's running his race and he is unapologetically himself and i'm

00:16kind of the same way um you know obviously i let my i think my fighting style is a little bit more

00:21exciting um he's got a little bit more of a brand outside of of the uh the octagon um but man either

00:29way both worlds collide on april 12th in miami co-main event five rounds man it's going to be

00:33fireworks i plan on going out there stealing the show at ufc 314 get my hand raised calling some

00:39people out um but i'm excited about it man mike what's the mindset right now uh obviously uh i

00:46think people could make the case they could say hey this is a risky fight for michael chandler because

00:49mike's ranked seventh and and patty's 12th and uh you know if michael were to not win this fight this

00:54could hurt his prospects moving forward is it is it still michael that hey i want that title and

01:00that's the goal or is it about just being a part of the biggest events that you could possibly uh be

01:05a part of oh well you know i think my last fight was uh a number one contender fight i had the

01:10opportunity to be able to put myself in title contention i fell short so you know with with that

01:16i got to deal with the repercussions so now i'm in a position where i need to go out there

01:19and fight somebody get a win and that's also the lifestyle of or the life cycle of a fighter

01:23yeah fourier had to fight benoit saint denis to prove he was in the top five and then gaethje had

01:29to fight fazeev the first time to prove he was still a top five guy this is what i have to do

01:33um and also make friends with risk and you'll never be alone a day in your life i've made an entire life

01:39this entire life that i have built has been built upon taking big risks throwing myself into the fire

01:46and uh this is no different and uh patty patty pimple gets to be the uh uh the have the

01:52unfortunate circumstances of fighting me on april 12th and uh you know we'll see how it ends up but

01:57i believe i get my hand raised in dominant fashion you know how the saying goes in in all sports and

02:03in mma certainly that there's levels to this is it your opinion that patty who has obviously not

02:09faced someone like you before has not faced someone as highly ranked as you is this uh uh there's levels

02:15to this situation where yes he's had success he's won some fights in a row obviously and is a

02:21talented guy but this is a whole different ball game here i do think that you know i but obviously

02:27i i know myself but you know you also see the strength of schedule that i've had um i've got

02:32some losses but nobody left the octagon fighting me unscathed even if they beat me they almost got beat

02:38up trying um but also you know you look at patty's strength of schedule it's been nothing like me um

02:45and he's fought nobody like me but the absence of a strong schedule is not the presence of weakness

02:50you know so i'm looking at this as as if this is patty's opportunity to prove either he is who he

02:56says he is or he isn't and for me it's another opportunity for me to prove either i am who i say i am

03:01or i'm not do i still have it there's a lot of questions that need to get answered and i think

03:05the answers are going to be emphatic and the answers are going to be in my favor um but with

03:10that being said man i'm just excited to compete again you know obviously you know we we covered it

03:14over the year that i waited for connor and the ultimate fighter and all that stuff and now you

03:18can see by my actions man fighting in november getting healthy barely getting healthy after that

03:24fight saying yes to this fight maybe a little bit too soon but now here i am seven weeks into a

03:29training camp body feels great my heart is full my mind is sharp and i want to be active in 2025

03:35and i get to go out there and continue to prove that there are levels to this game connor you said

03:40i've got some people i want to call out i don't want to steal your thunder here is connor mcgregor

03:44still on your mind and uh is he potentially one of those people that you uh will name after you win

03:49saturday i mean i think uh connor knows i want to fight him the world knows that he wants to fight

03:55me if he comes back his road back to the ufc goes through me um so i don't think i need to call him

04:00out um there's some other fights that are really exciting you know obviously a win over patty

04:04doesn't exactly put me in the title contention but dustin poria got a title shot after beating number

04:1011 um uh islam beat bobby green and he got a title shot so um i'm not saying i'll get the next title

04:18shot but i do think chandler versus islam is sure does sound appetizing if islam goes up which he's

04:23talking about doing it man chandler versus gaethje again chandler versus alivara well i can't do

04:28chandler versus alivara i don't deserve to fight him but chandler versus max holloway chandler versus

04:33to poria these are big fights good fights i'll tell you what man it's how beautiful is it the ufc

04:39lightweight division is a it's it's it's the uh murderer's row of of dudes that just go out there

04:47and they don't just compete they're going out there to brave bodily harm you're right it's like

04:52that's what you do so uh you know we'll see man i think i will fight connor if he comes back

04:58but i'm not holding my breath nor should you nor should anybody nor should anybody make any kind

05:03of bets that connor is coming back but uh i think he comes back eventually but we'll see if i'm still

05:07around uh you know everybody's had problems with with islam and the pressure how would that look

05:15obviously you're an incredibly accomplished wrestler how have you thought about what that

05:20matchup would look like i'm not trying to divert your attention here you've got to fight in eight

05:23days but that's a fascinating matchup i think michael yeah no you're good man i i think about

05:27this all the time and i thought about it when i first came into the ufc um because i was thinking

05:32about fighting khabib um now i train with a couple guys from dagestan and i've i've i've visualized my

05:39fighting myself fighting islam and i've you know been close to the point where i could get the title

05:44shot and i haven't been able to put it together um i think a fight versus islam man i'm not going

05:51to sit here and say that i'm a i should be a favorite but i know i can put together a training

05:56camp and put together a game plan that would get that would give fits to islam big time because

06:01i don't think a lot of people have seen my wrestling i don't think people see how great of

06:06a wrestler i am inside the practice room and sometimes i decide to go out there and just throw haymakers

06:11if i am forced to wrestle um my wrestling comes out and if islam forced me to wrestle

06:18my wrestling would come out and i think i would get on top i think i would hold him down he wouldn't

06:22be used to it um and on the feet i think i'm head and shoulders above him in the striking department

06:28but with that being said i wish him the best of luck with whoever he fights next all i know is

06:32chandler versus islam is a huge fight to make at 155 yeah and the fans thank you for throwing those

06:38haymakers all the time and a little less wrestling um last thing before i let you go and thank you so

06:44much michael uh you're like i don't know maybe like 65 ish or so miles away from mar-a-lago in uh

06:50in miami on saturday at ufc 314 uh do we think there's a chance that the president i know he's busy

06:56do we think there's a chance the president could make a little trip down the car you know a beast

07:00ride down or marine one ride down to uh the fight man there's there's always a chance man anytime

07:06the ufc is putting on a big pay-per-view donald trump uh wants to be there if he can yeah obviously

07:12this one does make a lot of sense because south florida um that would be amazing he was at my

07:17last fight at madison square garden he saw the slams at msg heard around the world um he gave me

07:23you know gave me a handshake and said you're one bad sob um wow after the fight you know so i mean uh

07:30hopefully we will see hopefully him and a lot of his his team is there because they are all doing a lot

07:35of great things right now making some huge changes for this beautiful country of ours in record time

07:40um and i'll be draped in the stars and bars and uh would love to love to compete in front of them

07:45again we shall see

07:46you

07:56you

07:58you

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