Michael Chandler thinks Dustin Poirier should wait for Conor McGregor instead of accepting title shot

Michael Chandler advises Dustin Poirier to go for the big money fight while he has it.

Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) stopped Conor McGregor for the second straight time in their trilogy bout at UFC 264, but McGregor’s leg break, which caused doctors to stop the fight, leaving the door slightly open for a potential fourth fight.

McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) deemed the win as illegitimate and made sure to ramp up his antics by lobbing insults towards Poirier’s wife. UFC president Dana White seemed open to a fourth fight, and so did Poirier, after McGregor made every attempt to make things personal.

The win over McGregor only further cemented Poirier as a No. 1 contender to face newly crowned lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, but Chandler thinks Poirier should just wait for McGregor’s leg to heal, otherwise a fourth fight may not make sense if he goes on to become champion.

“Man, if I’m Dustin Poirier, I’m just waiting for Conor 4,” Chandler said in an interview with Helen Yee. “If Poirier goes and wins the title, can Conor come right back and fight Poirier if he has the title? Crazier things have happened. So if I’m Poirier, I’m just waiting out and waiting for Conor 4, especially after he said numerous things about my wife and my kids and killing me, all that kind of stuff.

“But I also know and this is a testament to Poirier as a competitor, he wants to win the ultimate prize in mixed martial arts. He’s been an interim champion, but he hasn’t full-fledged, 100 percent undisputed champion. So I think the competitor in him will go fight Charles Oliveira, but there’s an inkling, there’s a part of me that says (he) might as well wait out and get the big money fight in Conor.”

No official date or event has been linked to Oliveira’s first title defense, but if it is indeed against “The Diamond,” Chandler likes Poirier’s chances despite just getting stopped by the reigning champion earlier this year.

“I think they’re both well-rounded,” Chandler said. “I think Poirier’s got a little bit more of kind of that dog in him. When the fight gets in the thick of it – obviously Charles Oliveira beat me in the second round, very soon into the second round, so we didn’t really see a lot of longevity in a fight like that.

“We saw him go through rounds with Tony Ferguson, but that was muchly a one-sided affair. I think a fight with Dustin Poirier, he puts hands on him pretty solidly those first couple rounds and kinda starts to put it on Charles. I think Poirier wins that fight by third, fourth-round finish. If they do go all five, Poirier wins the decision.”

Chandler will look to earn another crack at gold when he meets former title challenger Justin Gaethje in a bout that is expected to take place at UFC 268 on Nov. 6.