Michael Chandler has opened as much as fans in his first social media post after losing to Paddy Pimblett on Saturday night.
Former Bellator champion Chandler was brutalized and TKO’d within the third round of his UFC 314 co-main event with Pimblett in Miami. He narrowly avoided being hospitalized after suffering a very gnarly cut following a giant knee from the Brit, and has returned home to Nashville.
The loss marked a 3rd consecutive defeat for ‘Iron’ Mike, who hasn’t won since a 2022 knockout of Tony Ferguson. He was resulting from face Conor McGregor last yr and spent the perfect a part of two years waiting for that fight before moving on in November at UFC 309.
Michael Chandler shares emotional first message after UFC 314
Michael Chandler decided to take his time before returning to social media after his loss to Paddy Pimblett. He stayed quiet throughout Sunday and most of Monday as he made his way back home to his wife Brie and their kids.
On Monday, Brie shared quite a few photos to Instagram showing her husband wearing sunglasses to cover his gruesome cut but generally ‘still smiling’. He reposted all of them on his page, before sharing a more lengthy message on X.
“Never out of the fight,” he wrote to his 433,000+ followers alongside a photograph of himself holding hands together with his eldest son Hap. “This picture sums all of it up. So long as I’ve got these heartbeats and hands to carry, I’ve already won.”
UFC legends advise Michael Chandler to retire after Paddy Pimblett defeat
No matter whether he wins or loses, Michael Chandler is a fan favorite resulting from his exciting fight style. He’s frequently covered in blood, either his own or his opponent’s, and is the sort of fighter who will take a shot to land two in an effort to get the knockout.
But after a lengthy profession outside the UFC and now a 2-5 run inside it, legendary world champions Michael Bisping and Henry Cejudo imagine that he should hang up the gloves. The Brit reckons that resulting from his age, Chandler’s profession is now over.
“I don’t say this flippantly, but that was a career-killing performance for Michael Chandler,” he said in a YouTube video. “If he was 30 years old, he could have one other go… But no, Father Time is undefeated. He’s 38 years old and there ain’t no way he’s getting back into title contention ever again.”
Cejudo believes he has yet one more fight in him, but reckons that it’s not only results which can be hurting him; it’s the way during which he gets to the ultimate bell. “I believe Chandler must have just yet one more fight, man. I actually do,” Cejudo said on the Pound4Pound podcast with Kamaru Usman.
“I believe we should always retire together, perhaps on the identical card. If I’m Michael Chandler, yeah, I’d retire, bro. That’s too many beatings, dude. It’s not even taking L’s, he’s taking elbows to the face, he’s at all times cut and bloody. He’s gonna be beloved by people, but he’s lost all of his fights, and other people just forget.”
