UFC's foul king? Michael Chandler denies reputation

Zane Simon

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Publish Date: 11/28/2024

When Michael Chandler made the jump from Bellator to the UFC he did so with a sparkling reputation.

Best known as the face of the Spike TV promotion, Chandler hit the Octagon as an already established star. There were the legendary wars with Eddie Alvarez, the shocking upset losses to Will Brooks, and the crushing KO wins over the likes of Dave Rickles, Patricky Pitbull, and Benson Henderson. Outside the cage, 'Iron Mike' otherwise had a reputation as a wholesome inspirational quote machine.

Michael Chandler's foul play

Over the past few years, however, Michael Chandler has developed a new reputation for himself. While just 2-4 in the Octagon, he has been a consistent headlining talent. Someone the UFC can depend on for thrilling displays of violence. Also fouls.

In his fight with Dustin Poirier Chandler's moments of offensive control were marked by attempted fish hooking, gouging, fence grabbing, and glove grabbing. To say nothing of his attempts to direct blood from his wounds into his opponent's face.

“...I told him he’s a dirty motherfucker, too, for putting his fingers in my mouth and blowing his nose," Poirier explained when asked about his verbal exchange with Chandler after the fight.

For his part, Chandler denied the accusations. He claimed that any fouls he might have committed were purely incidental.

UFC 309 aftermath

If Chandler wanted to restore his reputation, he got his chance at UFC 309. In his first bout since losing to Poirier, the Nashville MMA fighter took on former champion Charles Oliveira at MSG. The fight was largely dominated by Oliveira. 'Do Bronx' found great success out-grappling the 38-year-old for most of the first four rounds of the fight. In the last round, however, Chandler got a bit of his own back, rocking his Brazilia foe badly with a blitz of offense.

Then came the fouls.

With Oliveira trying to get back to his feet along the cage, Chandler pounced. The former D1 All-American Dropped a number of heavy shots directly to the back of Oliveira's head. Clearly illegal blows that immediately reminded fans of his fight with Poirier.

I’m not here to criticize,” Oliveira told media after the bout. “But I wanna tell you something: there were a lot of blows to the back of the head, a lot of fence grabbing. There was also some eye pokes. And I was telling the ref what was going on, I was calling for his attention and nothing would happen. I hoped that he would intervene, but nothing happened.”

Michael Chandler defends himself

Much like his fight with Poirier, while the fouls Chandler committed seemed clear and obvious, he is claiming his innocence. Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Chandler made his case. Mostly, he feels, if the blows were illegal, why didn't the ref step in?

“I’m not going to say I didn’t do anything wrong, OK? I’m not going to say that people couldn’t look at it and splice it and look at it under a fine-tooth comb and a magnifying glass,” Chandler explained. “But the unified rules of mixed martial arts say that there is a line drawn from the crown of the head down to the neck, one-inch variance on either side.

“So you’re talking about a two-inch area on the back of someone’s head that is considered the back of the head. If you watch 90 percent of the shots, at least, most of them, almost all of them, my fist was catching the ear. If you’re catching the ear, that’s not the back of the head. Actually, what you and I would call the back of the head is not the actual definition of what it is. That two-inch strip down the back of the head.”