3 reasons why a fight between Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje could be a classic
According to recent reports, UFC President Dana White is looking to book a lightweight clash between former UFC title challengers Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje in the near future.
A fight between Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje not only makes sense from a rankings perspective, but it could also provide UFC fans with some huge excitement.
So with this in mind, here are three reasons why Michael Chandler vs. Justin Gaethje could be an instant classic.
#1 Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje always look to go to war inside the octagon
The obvious reason why a fight between Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje could be a classic is the fact that both men are always involved in crazy fights.
Both Chandler and Gaethje come from an amateur wrestling background. Chandler was a four-time NCAA Division I All-American at the University of Missouri. At the same time, Gaethje also became an NCAA Division I All-American at the University of Northern Colorado.
But inside the octagon, neither man is a classic wrestler.
Instead, both Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje primarily look to use their wrestling in reverse – allowing them to remain on their feet to throw bombs at their opponents.
And it’s a style that’s worked for both of them thus far into their MMA careers.
The combined record of Chandler and Gaethje stands at 44-9. And of their combined 53 fights, 19 have been won by KO or TKO, with just nine overall going the distance.
Essentially, if you were to put Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje in the octagon together, the likelihood of either man shooting for a takedown would be remarkably low.
Instead, they’ll be likely to stand in front of one another and throw shots until one man can no longer stand up.
Basically, this would be a stylistic clash that would almost guarantee a crazy fight. It could produce an instant classic like Chandler’s fight with Eddie Alvarez or Gaethje’s with Dustin Poirier.
#2 Both men have nothing to lose and everything to gain
Both Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje are amongst the UFC’s highest-ranked lightweight contenders right now.
Gaethje is currently ranked at #2, while Chandler sits two spots below him at #4. Essentially, both men would definitely be considered contenders for the UFC lightweight title.
However, right now, neither man is really close to a title shot outright.
That’s because Gaethje failed in his attempt to dethrone Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title last October. Meanwhile, Chandler was obviously stopped by Charles Oliveira in a fight for the vacant title at UFC 262.
Were either Chandler or Gaethje next in line for a shot at the UFC lightweight title, there’d be every chance that a fight between the two could become a damp squib.
On numerous occasions in the UFC, we've seen that if a fighter has already secured a title shot, they’re more likely to fight in a safe way to preserve that shot.
But with Gaethje and Chandler, right now, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
If the UFC matches them up, a win for either man could well propel them right back into a UFC lightweight title shot. And even a loss wouldn’t really matter all that much so long as the fight were exciting.
The natural styles of both men would always suggest we’d be in for a barnburner anyway. But with both men having nothing to lose, the likelihood of them putting on an insane war only increases – making this the perfect time to sign the fight.
#3 Both men may be less durable than they once were
It sounds crazy, but sometimes in the UFC, the less durable fighters often put on the more exciting fights.
Sure, it’s always a spectacle to see fighters using their iron chins to absorb punches that would seemingly knock out a rhino.
But if neither fighter is able to score a knockdown or come close to a finish, then things can become tiresome and a sense of jeopardy can sometimes disappear from a fight.
With that in mind, had the UFC booked a fight between Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje in, say, 2015, there would’ve been every chance that we’d have been in for one of those kinds of fights.
At that point, Chandler was 12-3 and had only ever been stopped once, while Gaethje boasted one of the best chins in the sport and was 13-0.
Now, though, both fighters have been around the block on numerous occasions. They have fought some of the best 155lbers on the planet, including Dustin Poirier, Eddie Alvarez and Charles Oliveira.
And they’ve also lost a combined total of six fights by KO or TKO.
Both Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje can definitely still take a punch. But unlike in the earlier part of their careers, both men can now definitely be hurt and also be stopped.
That means that there’s more chance of a stoppage in a fight between the two if the UFC book it now. This will ramp up the excitement level even further.
Basically, it’s highly likely that one of the two men would end up being knocked out. And regardless of which one that is, it’d probably be a hell of a lot of fun to watch.