As much as Chandler was trying to save face like he wasn’t phased by, and had no feud with Dustin Poirier in the build up to their fight at UFC 281, healined by Adesanya vs. Pereira, he sure had a lot to say about Poirier and his “dirty fighter” allegations in his most recent interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
Catch the full interview on ESPN here.
Chandler who didn’t seem to bothered by Poirier in the build up, but it was Poirier who seemed to have a problem with Chandler, calling him “fake”, dismissing fights with him in order “to sell hotsauce” and a bunch of other expletives before they faced off at UFC 281. You can read more about what was said between the two here.
Michael Chandler finally addressed Poirier’s comments post UFC 281 about the hits to the back of the head, and the fish-hook. Which Chandler admitted to in his interview with Brett.
He first addressed the hits to the back of the head saying, “the back of the head thing is completely farce, the referee was right there i was catching his ear with every single shot, maybe one shot punched him in the back of the head and that happens every single fight and he turned himself into me“.
Further elaborating on this saying the onerous is on the fighter, but it is ultimately the refs job to tell him not to hit the back of the head.
Chandler added that, “if an opponent turns his head to make you punch him in the back of the head you get one free strike“.
When it came to Poiriers allegations of getting fish-hooked by Chandler, he wasn’t so forthcoming in his post-fight interview following their bout, and seemed to be a little aggravated by Poiriers comments about him.
Here though, he did admit to his hand going in Poirier’s mouth, saying, “I drilled reaching down grabbing the chin lifting it up going for the Rear Naked Choke about a thousand times“.
Chandler described that Poiriers mouth-piece was the same shape as the chin and he pulled up seeking for the choke. Chandler, adamant of being honest in his actions in the fight doesn’t think he should apologize, but did anyway to the fans and possibly Poirier?
It wasn’t that clear.
But one thing forsure, Chandler thinks Dustin Poirier is losing sleep over him, and that if “him [Poirier] and his 7 fans who think he is a dirty fighter” want to push that narrative he could care less as he is blessed.
Courtesy: ESPN
Courtesy: UFC
