UFC lightweight contender Michael Chandler doesn't have any desire to face former interim UFC lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier as his next opponent inside of the Octagon.
Chandler spoke with journalist Ariel Helwani on the latest edition of his show The MMA Hour and addressed Poirier's recent tweet where he alluded that Chandler was avoiding fighting him. The former Bellator lightweight champ made it clear that if he had to choose to fight either Poirier or Nate Diaz next, the choice would easily be Diaz for him.
“It would be Diaz. I have no interest in fighting Dustin, honestly,” Chandler said (h/t MMA Fighting). “To be quite honest, I think he’s a great dude. I think I like him for the sport, but I also think I was completely disregarded and pushed aside whenever I came into the organization. He completely disregarded me, he acted as though I didn’t deserve to be where I was. Maybe it’s a bit more of a personal issue, but I also don’t think, is Dustin a draw? I guess he’s the No. 2 guy [in the UFC rankings] now, but he’s just kind of stayed at No. 2 and I don’t know how active he’s going to be. I did see him tweet that I was saying everyone else’s name but his as if I didn’t want to fight him because of technical reasons or what not, but it’s more like I forgot about him. Hat’s off for what he’s done in his career and I respect the heck out of him, he makes some great hot sauce. But as of right now, I don’t really have any desire to fight him.”
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