The promotion has held thousands of events over the years, but Chandler says his bout against Pitbull is the biggest in Bellator’s history.
“When you look at track records, him as a champion, his wins and his record that he has, me as now the three-time Bellator lightweight champion, the guy who has proven to be up in the upper echelon in the world MMA ranks the last eight years, it’s two of Bellator’s winningest fighters and really most exciting fighters, so this is the time for this fight to happen,” Chandler told MMA Junkie. “If he beat up my brother twice, I would not like him at all. But then you sprinkle in the fact he and I both have been close and in the same room and on the same fight cards and in the same locker rooms and the same photo shoots and we’ve been around each other too much, rub shoulders way too much. There’s never been a friendly atmosphere there because obviously I’m a rival of his brother’s and he always has this kind of chin-up, chest-put, ‘I want to fight anybody who looks at me’ kind of thing. It’s the biggest fight Bellator could have made and in its history and I’m excited to come out the victor on Saturday night.”
There is a long history between Chandler and the Pitbull Brothers, as Chandler already holds two victories over Patricky Pitbull.
Bellator 221 takes place on Saturday, May 11 from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois with Michael Chandler and Patricio Pitbull headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on DAZN.
