BMF Part 2? Chandler Down For Gamebred Clash

Michael Chandler hasn’t shied away from sharing his willingness to compete north of 155 pounds.

Though his results inside the Octagon haven’t been ideal in terms of getting his hand raised, Chandler has been consistently entertaining in all five of his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bouts (2-3, 23-8 overall). All but one of Chandler’s UFC appearances have resulted in either a Performance of the Night or Fight of the Night bonus.

Chandler hopes to find a way back into title contention after suffering a third round rear-naked choke submission loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 (watch highlights). In the meantime, a trip to Welterweight could be intriguing for the right match up … perhaps a Jorge Masvidal pairing could do the trick?

“You tell me who the BMF (Baddest Motherf—ker) is,” Chandler told ESPN (h/t MMA Junkie). “You tell me who the fans, if we did a poll right now, who’s the baddest mother fudger in the UFC? I’ve got a couple awards on my mantel right now. I think I’ll add a couple more — possibly Knockout of the Year, possibly Fight of the Year of 2023. But that BMF belt sure would look good next to them.

“Is it a fight that I’ve really thought about a ton in the past? Not really,” he added. “But tell me that wouldn’t get the juices flowing of the entire mixed martial arts world: Michael Chandler versus Jorge Masvidal for the BMF belt, [Dwayne] ‘The Rock’ [Johnson] walking in with it over his shoulder and then handing it to me 15 minutes later.”

Masvidal became the first and only BMF champion in Nov. 2019, defeating Nate Diaz via third round technical knockout. It’s been tough sledding for “Gamebred” since, however, as he’s lost three straight and currently is embroiled in some legal troubles involving his last opponent, Colby Covington.

Despite that, Masvidal appears ready to get back to work after firing back at his fellow Welterweight and teammate of Chandler’s, Gilbert Burns.