"He hasn't beaten anybody inside the top 10" - Michael Chandler dismisses the idea of fighting Islam Makhachev
Michael Chandler has some new questions to answer after Islam Makhachev called him out after winning over Thiago Moises. Chandler was a part of the media team during the event, and the Russian fighter took the opportunity to call out a guy who fought for the title in his last bout.
Michael Chandler spoke about Islam's call out, among other things, in a video uploaded by TheMacLife on their YouTube channel. He said:
"I get a lot of questions about Islam. No question, the guy is good, but he still hasn't beat anybody inside the top 10. Drew Dober wasn't ranked. Thiago Moises was ranked fourteenth. He has not beaten anybody inside the top 10. I don't think he should start with me at number 4. There's number 10, there's number 8, there's number 7, there's number 6."
His argument would have lost a lot of weight now as Islam moved up to number five in the newly updated UFC rankings. However, Chandler wasn't aware of this, and it'll be interesting to see if this update changes his mind.
"He essentially named everybody. He named RDA, he named Tony Ferguson, he named Beneil Dariush, he named me, that's four or five guys inside the top 10 aside from him and Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier and Conor. So, essentially he named everybody who was available," he continued.
Rafael dos Anjos and Tony Ferguson did not respond to Makhachev's callouts, but Dan Hooker wanted all the smoke as he asked to fight the Dagestani. However, Islam turned him down, citing his poor record as the reason for doing so.
Also Read: "Everything he does is intriguing" - Michael Chandler calls Conor McGregor the 'king of promotion' and talks about a potential fight against him
Michael Chandler calls Islam Makhachev good but wants to fight Justin Gaethje next
Chandler added that he didn't want to fight a guy who was ranked number nine at the time and said Gaethje should be next.
"He's good, there's no doubt the guy's good, but at this point in time, I'm number four so I don't see myself taking a fight against number nine. So, we'll see. Gaethje should be next," he concluded.
Justin Gaethje is yet to fight again after losing his lightweight title shot against Khabib Nurmagomedov last year. But a bout against Michael Chandler is something the fans would love to see.
Watch Chandler's entire interview below: