"He can't help himself" - Anthony Smith highlights Michael Chandler's team "begging him to stick to the gameplan" during Dustin Poirier fight
Anthony Smith recently gave his opinion on what went wrong for Michael Chandler during his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 281.
During an episode of Michael Bisping's Believe You Me podcast, Smith recapped the event and provided his analysis of Chandler's performance. He mentioned that the former lightweight title challenger tried to please the fans too much:
"He cannot help himself. Like what's the battle here, do you wanna be an entertainer or do you wanna win? And he can't do both. He can't. So he's swinging for the fences and I wish you could've seen his team begging him to stick to the gameplan. He can't help himself, it's just who he is."
'Lionheart' was cageside for the fight and noted that he saw Chandler's coaches pleading with him to shoot for takedowns, which was effective and won him the second round.
He added that although he followed the gameplan in the middle frame, the damage had accumulated from when he went off course:
"The first round went off the rails because that's not what they [Chandler's coaches] wanted, his team didn't want that at all. They wanted him to do exactly what he did in the second round. He can't help himself, he's trying. You can see the internal battle, he's feinting takedowns and he's looking, he's trying to be mobile, he's trying to pick at little shots. He cannot help himself, he just has to [be] throwing for the f****ng fences because deep down, in his soul, that's who he is."
With his submission loss to Dustin Poirier, the former three-time Bellator lightweight champion is now 2-3 inside the octagon and will need a big win to get back into title contention.
Check out the full podcast episode:
Is Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez 3 on the horizon?
Michael Chandler could have another big fight on the horizon as his former Bellator foe Eddie Alvarez tweeted out that he'd like to return to the UFC for a trilogy fight.
#TBT to the time @MikeChandlerMMA submitted Eddie Alvarez.
Chandler is back in the cage tomorrow night on @paramountnet at 9/8c! #Bellator197 https://t.co/NiovdVMhci
Alvarez is currently a free agent and could return to the promotion if there is a strong demand for a trilogy bout.
UFC President Dana White mentioned that he spoke with the former UFC lightweight champion recently, but revealed that the talks weren't serious.
Obviously, that could change as the pair split wins in their Bellator fights and are both exciting fighters.
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Hey brother @MikeChandlerMMA @ufc I Think it’s time for round 3 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼🔪🔪🔪 Rest up Champ then give these Fans what they want .
'Iron' will need to wait for six months if that's the fight he wants next, however, because 'The Underground King' will need to re-enter the USADA testing pool before returning.