Michael Chandler doesn’t have time to hold onto grudges but especially those that feel like a lifetime ago.
In one of his final fights under the Bellator MMA banner, Chandler lost his lightweight title in a stunning upset to Patricio Pitbull, who scored a knockout just 61 seconds into the first round. The rivalry between them got rather heated in the leadup to the fight and looking back now, Chandler knows that a huge part of that stemmed from his past win over Pitbull’s brother and comments that likely got misconstrued as personal trash talk.
“I’ll tell you what it was — he has a brother who fought, right?” Chandler told MMA Fighting. “His brother [Patricky Pitbull] is his family and I think because the language barrier or whatever, I said something about family and I think he took it as ‘oh you’re talking about my wife, my kids, my mom, my aunt’ and I’m like no dude, I’m literally just talking about your brother. The way I see it, I would love to bury that hatchet.”
Chandler admits that he wasn’t in a great headspace during his final couple of years in Bellator, especially as he contemplated his future. Despite all that he accomplished as a multi-time champion while being considered one of the best lightweights in the world, Chandler still wasn’t a known quantity to the larger audience because Bellator just didn’t break through that ceiling.
That led to Chandler taking a stab at building a bigger, better rivalry with his opponents and that largely started with the fight against Pitbull in 2019.
“My last couple of fights in Bellator I was not happy. 100 percent not happy,” Chandler said. “I felt as though I was working just as hard as every single dude you covered in the UFC. I was training just as hard as the UFC champion. Just as hard as the No. 1 guy in the world. Just as hard as the biggest superstars on the planet yet I wasn’t getting the credit for it. It was so hard to build a brand and build a career and build something outside of the UFC because everything else, whether you like it or not, no matter what your opinion is, it isn’t even close to what the UFC is.
“I saw it, I knew it, and I think some of that spilled over into some of those fights. I think I wanted something bigger. I wanted animosity. I wanted a storyline. I stand corrected. I feel like I did not act within my character because of what was going on the business side/promotional side of the fighting stuff. I wasn’t keeping the main thing, the main thing, which is fighting in a cage. Patricio was one of those guys.”
After signing with the UFC and booking his debut fight against Yair Rodriguez in April, Pitbull told MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz that he was excited to share the card with Chandler because it would be “the first time in history that father and son fight on the same day.”
While Pitbull added that he respected Chandler as a fighter, he would never lose the desire to face him again because in his mind that rivalry didn’t end just because they clashed in the past.
Hearing those comments didn’t fire Chandler up or change the way he felt about Pitbull.
Instead, Chandler actually hopes Pitbull finds success now that he’s part of the UFC roster and he was actually happy to see the former Bellator champion secure his release following an ugly back and forth with the PFL over his lack of activity with the promotion.
“I’d love to bury the hatchet,” Chandler said about Pitbull. “I’m excited for him. Pumped for him. I know for a fact, 1,000-percent he is very happy with the decision he has made. You could go through the laundry list of all the tweets that are coming out right now straight to Donn Davis, before it was Bellator, straight to these other organizations ‘give me a fight.’ People holding people hostage, they’re not happy.
“Whether you like it or not, whether the UFC is the big bad guy who makes all the money and doesn’t pay their guys enough, this is the only place in the entire world to build a ridiculously large mixed martial arts career and UFC is going to keep doing what they’re doing and you’re going to keep seeing guys come over because I think the writing is on the wall and it’s pretty black and white.”
Since he signed with the UFC, Chandler’s career trajectory has reached new heights when it comes to recognition and opportunities both inside and outside the cage. He expects more fighters like Pitbull to realize the same thing bout fighting in the UFC versus any other organization in the world.
“The UFC is the only place to build a worthwhile, meaningful mixed martial arts career and now you’re seeing Patricio come over, you see Aaron Pico talking about it,” Chandler said. “You’re seeing everybody wants to come over so I’m excited about it.”
As far as Pitbull saying he would welcome a future rematch, Chandler isn’t interested — at least based on the past they share together.
“I’m not an unfinished business kind of guy,” Chandler said. “If I lost to you, whatever I can sleep at night. If I beat you, whatever I can sleep at night. That’s definitely not a fight I’m interested in.
“He could end up being top five if he beats Yair Rodriguez on a card with a vacant 145 [pound] title. UFC knows what they’re doing. They’re putting him in a good spot and now he’s got an opportunity to sink or swim.”
