Keep Math Out Of This! Chandler Fires Back At ‘Backdoor’ Poirier Logic

Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier should probably just fight at this point.

Immediately following Chandler’s devastating second-round front kick knockout of Tony Ferguson (watch highlights) at UFC 274 last month (May 7, 2022), the former three-time Bellator Lightweight titlist took to the microphone with Joe Rogan, putting the division once again on notice. Rattling off a handful of names, Poirier’s was somewhat surprisingly omitted.

Chandler would later reveal his “forgetfulness” toward “The Diamond” and the two have had several comments to share about each other since. Among those aforementioned names targeted by Chandler was one of Poirier’s recent rivals, Conor McGregor. Discussing the matchup between Chandler and McGregor as well as himself, Poirier doesn’t like “Iron’s” chances.

“I’m a dangerous fight for him,” Poirier said on THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas (h/t MMA Junkie). “I think I’m a clean puncher, accurate. He called out Conor. I think Conor is a dangerous fight for him, too. I’m not saying Chandler’s chinny or anything, but he gets hurt in a lot of his fights, and guys like Conor, they can punch. If you’re getting hurt by Tony Ferguson and dropped by [Charles] Oliveira, guys like me, guys like Conor, if we touch your chin, it’s gonna be bad.

“That’s the reason he gets hurt in these fights, because you can’t have an offense and a defense, and he’s all offense,” he added. “Jumping forward, lunging forward, and you know what they say, when your feet leave the ground in boxing, you get carried out. Jumping around, throwing punches in the air, you can’t pivot, you can’t move, you’ll run into big shots. You jump in, you get carried out.”

Another one of Poirier’s critiques of Chandler since the shot-calling began has been directed towards who Chandler has beaten in UFC, noting that Dan Hooker and Ferguson were coming off losses when tasked with Chandler.

As the talk continues, Chandler is only getting more and more tired of it.

“I heard what you said,” Chandler said in an Instagram story (h/t Twitter: @funkysorcerer). “Nobody gives a rip about your wannabe ‘don’t make sense lost your shine so you’re trying to steal everybody else’s shine’ backdoor MMA math. Zip it.”