Michael Chandler may have a path to a title shot in 2021 after all, as Dana White seems to be leaning towards pairing him against #2-ranked lightweight Justin Gaethje.
After Michael Chandler fell short of claiming the UFC lightweight title against Charles Oliveira at UFC 262, the former Bellator champion vowed to get his hands on UFC gold in 2021. In a recent interview, Chandler even revealed that the UFC had assured him that his next fight would be against a top-5 opponent.
“On Monday, I heard from the UFC,” Chandler told MMA Junkie. “They called me and said, ‘Keep your head up. You’re right there in the mix. Phenomenal fight. You almost beat the eventual world champion. You’re right there in the mix, and we’re going to get you another top-five guy.’”
Speaking to TMZ, Dana White may have tipped his hand in revealing that the “top-5” guy could be none other than “The Highlight” Justin Gaethje.
“There’s a few opportunities,” White began when asked what’s next for Chandler.
“He could fight Gaethje. We’ll see. We don’t have anything done yet, but that makes sense, and that’d be a fun fight. Imagine Chandler vs. Gaethje.”
This pairing would no doubt be a high-profile fight that has the makings for all sorts of fireworks. Beneil Dariush is currently ranked #3 but suggested that he will look to take a long time off, so there is a strong argument to be made that this fight between #2 and #4 is the sensible fight to make with Chandler eager to get back into title contention and Gaethje not having fought since last October.
If this fight goes from fantasy to reality, we’ll have the fresh scoop for you right here on MMANews.com!
What do you think? Is Michael Chandler vs. Justin Gaethje the fight to make?