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Michael Chandler's claim to be the "next guy in line" for a title shot perplexes Beneil Dariush.
Dariush returns against Mateusz Gamrot in what is widely regarded as a potential No. 1 contender bout before Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev share the Octagon for the vacant UFC lightweight championship at UFC 280. After all, the No. 6 lightweight expects to be the backup fighter for either Oliveira or Makhachev if either of them is injured before the pay-per-view event.
Dariush wonders why Chandler sees himself in a better position to receive a championship opportunity next, given his current position. Chandler stated on The MMA Hour in September that a victory over Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 should be sufficient, but Dariush disagrees.
“Honestly, I think he’s just trying to hype himself up,” Dariush told Helen Yee recently. “I don’t think that’s true. But if that does happen, man, I will — that’s basically a clown show. What? The guy just had a title shot loss and then lost again. So it doesn’t make sense. After I beat Gamrot, I don’t think there’s anyone who can step in front of me.
“That being said, we’ll see what happens,” continued Dariush. “I think it would be a joke if he gets a title shot.”
Before Chandler can re-enter the fray, he must first defeat Poirier, and Dariush gave him a 40% chance of doing so in three rounds. The reason for this is that the Kill Cliff FC product can become too focused on entertaining rather than sticking to his game plan, which he has admitted to doing in the past.
“Only because Michael Chandler focused so much on being exciting, I think he actually gives up a lot of his skill sets,” said Dariush. “I think he could do way better than he’s actually done. I think he’s, what, 2-2 in the UFC? I think he could be undefeated right now if he had a better mindset, but he’s so focused on being entertaining and exciting, he’s lost two fights and that’s why I’m leaning more towards Dustin.”