Michael Chandler‘s career has seen many wars, but none more damaging than UFC 309. He lost a lopsided bid (49-46, 49-46, 49-45) in his rematch with Charles Oliveira at the pay-per-view (PPV) co-main bill. Chandler (23-9 MMA, 2-4 UFC) did manage to rally back. But it was too little, too late. What transpired was arguably a few illegal takes.
The contest predominantly happened on the ground against the submission specialist, Charles Oliveira. “Iron” was four rounds down when he almost pulled off a sensational come-from-behind win. In a last-ditch effort, he wrecked the Brazilian with some heavy ground-and-pound. But said pounding looked like they were to the back of the head. Chandler, though, insists he didn’t land any illegal strikes at UFC 309.
The referee was right there, dude, …I mean, he took like 15 shots to the ear. 15! And I was like, ‘Is this referee gonna step in, dude?’ [But] …The hard part is there’s kind of an unspoken rule. At this point, it’s gotta be pretty definitive…If I was up three rounds or four rounds to one or none, and Charles Oliveira clipped me, I would want the referee to not step in unless it’s like a life-or-death situation.
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Oliveira largely dominated Chandler on Saturday. The former UFC lightweight champion wouldn’t kick Chandler while he was down but called out his rival for fouls. Speaking separately to FullSend MMA, Oliveira insisted he had no hard feelings towards Chandler. He already had a reputation for bending the rules with eye-pokes, fence grabs, and fishhooks. Ask nemesis Dustin Poirer about that one.
The fighter had his own array of beatdown injuries to tend to. But when down this many rounds, he said referee Keith Peterson followed an unspoken rule. A rule wherein there’s no need to step in and stop late-round domination of a fighter who is on the up on scorecards, unless absolutely illegal. To his view, it wasn’t.
Michael Chandler hurt his knees at UFC 309
With Oliveira (35-10 MMA, 23-10 UFC) dominating the grappling department for four rounds, one has to dig deep. That is exactly what Michael Chandler did. He rallied late, yet lost a unanimous decision to Charles Oliveira at UFC 309.
Michael Chandler details more injuries at UFC 309 (Source: X)In the first three rounds, Oliveira dropped Chandler. But the wrestle-heavy side of the American kicked in. Chandler’s defense was good enough to fend off constant rear-naked choke attempts. However, in Round 2, he suffered with his footing, tripping over the cage. The same thing happened again at the end.
I think something happened to the knee in that first exchange where he had the leg, and I did like a full 360, and he did a kneebar thing, …I walked back to the stool and I looked down at my left leg and it was not working right. It wasn’t stepping. It wasn’t catching. It was unstable. It was weird.
Michael Chandler further said
Chandler says he injured his leg very early in his five-round bout with Oliveira. He will have some scans to determine the extent of the injury. Both he and Charles Oliveira are facing 30-day mandatory clinical suspensions from the New York State Department. The defeat dropped Chandler to 1-4 in his last five matches, and he’ll be looking to rebound.
