Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American athlete Michael Chandler.
Last updated on December 21, 2024.
Michael Chandler is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2009, Chandler first gained notoriety when he began competing for Bellator MMA, an organization he fought for from 2010 through 2020. There, Chandler became a three-time Bellator Lightweight Champion and was the winner of the Bellator Season Four Lightweight Tournament, and held a promotional win–loss record of 18–5. In Chandler's first UFC year in 2021, he challenged for the UFC Lightweight Championship, knocked out top contender Dan Hooker, and fought Justin Gaethje in what was voted as the 2021 UFC Fight of the Year. He also competed in collegiate wrestling out of the University of Missouri, where he earned NCAA Division I All-American honors. As of November 2, 2021, he is #5 in the UFC lightweight rankings.
I talk to my god every day and he's completely fine with me beating the hell out of people.
My wrestling's always better than most people's.
At first I thought, beer's nasty. Then I found IPAs. They're delicious.
It is not that hard to go out there and put on the performance of your life and beat any guy in the lightweight division on any given night.
When you're wrestling, it's such an amazing sport. I love it. I loved that I came from that background.
God has always opened up doors at the right time. He's closed doors at the right time.
I love Scott Coker and I love Bellator and I love what we have built together and it's a little uneasy to think that I will no longer be under contract with Bellator after I knock out Benson Henderson and get my hand raised.
Letting emotion get into it isn't part of my game. Letting animosity or a rivalry come into it, that's all for the show.
Henri Hooft has made my hands and feet deadly weapons.
The greatest thing about fighting a guy like Dave Rickels: He always comes to fight.
I got a wife and a son I have to fight for.
It's OK to have a little bit of pride in yourself.
Bellator has taken care of me, and I've taken care of them. It's been the perfect storm of a symbiotic relationship - them having an asset they were not willing to lose, and me being in a situation where the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Benson is a champion. I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't scared to death inside this cage, stepping into the cage with that monster.
Henri Hooft is the greatest striking coach on planet. He's phenomenal leader - he makes me believe in me more than I will ever believe in me.
I never focus on my opponent - I focus more on myself: knowing what my strengths are, where I can take the fight, how I can win the fight, and the intensity that I'm going to bring to a fight.
If I had the opportunity to fight Khabib, or anyone ranked No. 1 - I've played that in my head a million times.
Benson Henderson is a guy that I fought before. He has two arms and two legs. He has certain patterns, mannerisms and tendencies that I know I can go out there and exploit.
I want to build a brand that inspires as many people as I possibly can.
I've been blessed so much in my own life and I want to spread that blessing to others who need it.
My goal is to win and to finish fights quickly.
I don't focus on how I'm gonna get the finish or how I would like to get the finish. I focus on just my game plan that I've gone over with myself, my coaches. If the finish comes it comes.
Nothing bad can happen if you train your butt off and make the right decisions and surround yourself with the right people.
I had so much growing up and I'm so thankful for all the people who invested in my life.
I actually have a tattoo on the left side of my chest that says 'Blessed.' It represents how blessed I've been in my life and how thankful I am for all that I have.
Life throws you curveballs and there are things that happen - you don't understand why they happened at the time. But then you step back and understand you're a better fighter and competitor because of the things that happened.
You don't hope to go up and hit a single. You go up and hope to hit a home run.
I just think that with my wrestling background there's not going to be any doubt in my mind that if I have to go through a three round war that in the third round I'm gonna be more fresh, more tenacious, I'm gonna want that win more than anybody else I'm going to have to fight.
I pretty much just train... and go to church on Sundays.
Nothing has really made me upset aside from the baseless, false accusations of PED use.
My body is durable, my body is able to withstand a lot of practices, a lot of punishment.
I like Scott Coker a lot. He built Strikeforce, turned it into what it was and he has a great reputation with fighters and other promoters.
Not since 2011, when I stepped into the cage and fought Eddie Alvarez for the first time and was the extreme underdog - I've never quite had that feeling of a 10 since then.
I'm a guy who's been around this sport on the outside looking in, seeing, watching, scheming, plotting and planning his next big move.
On my way to winning the title, it was great for me, but once I won the title, it was tough for me to get fights.
If I could do this until I was 60, I would. This is a great life. All I do is train, all I do is work out, and prolong my life by the training that I'm doing, the things I have to do as professional athlete.
I'm a nasty human being when I step into that cage, but before that I could care less.
Everyone who has kids that you talk to tells you, 'Wait until you have kids. It's going to change you.' You're like, 'Nah, come on. How can it change you that much?' But it changes you so much.
It's damage to a nerve. It pretty much shut down the whole lower part of my left leg. I wasn't able to step anymore. It's called foot drop - basically, you can't lift your foot.
I've had a phenomenal life. I have a phenomenal God that I serve. I have a phenomenal wife.
It really has been just take it one day a time, one fight at a time, one training camp at a time, one year at a time.
Obviously, as a young, young, hungry fighter, I'd like to be fighting three or four times a year.
I had my first fight in August of 2009 and haven't looked back since.
It's a fast-paced somewhat violent sport, but it's very much entertaining. And the greatest thing about mixed martial arts is that it transcends a lot of demographics.
Finishing a guy like Benson Henderson, who hasn't been finished since for six years, the guy doesn't get finished and I finished it with a switch-step switch to Southpaw, knocked him out with my left hand.
I'm always training to be quite honest, but there are those moments when you're a little more out of shape than you should be.
Bellator wouldn't be who they are without my performances and Michael Chandler wouldn't be who he is without Bellator promoting him and us having a phenomenal symbiotic relationship.
For me, getting up is an inside job, but it has been hard stepping in the cage with guys who I've had to lose against and not a lot to gain.
There are always a couple of ways you envision fights going; you always envision a win and a great finish.
I do love the outdoor. Love love the outdoors, fishing and hunting and that kind of thing.
Derek Campos is really tough.
I'm not who I am without the organization of Bellator.
I look after two people - my wife and my son.
I just try to keep the main thing the main thing: getting my butt in the gym.
I built my name on fighting so hard - I'll always do that - but I'm also trying to become more of a veteran, to be be calm and calculated and not always trying to bowl people over.
Life is too short and too sweet to complain about the silly things.
I really have a heart for children who suffer from cancer. I can't imagine having to go through that at such a young age.
I'm just getting better every single day and I want to be the best in the world.
There's still times I wish I could throw on the black and gold singlet and go out there in the Hearnes Center and wrestle for the Missouri Tigers. I miss that and I miss the stuff about college wrestling.
I just turned 34 and feel like the best striker I've ever been.