Michael Chandler has opened up to fans in his first social media post after losing to Paddy Pimblett on Saturday night.
Former Bellator champion Chandler was brutalized and TKO’d in the third round of his UFC 314 co-main event with Pimblett in Miami. He narrowly avoided being hospitalized after suffering a particularly gnarly cut following a big knee from the Brit, and has returned home to Nashville.
The loss marked a third consecutive defeat for ‘Iron’ Mike, who hasn’t won since a 2022 knockout of Tony Ferguson. He was due to face Conor McGregor last year and spent the best part of two years waiting for that fight before moving on in November at UFC 309.
Michael Chandler shares emotional first message after UFC 314
Michael Chandler decided to take his time before returning to social media after his loss to Paddy Pimblett. He stayed quiet throughout Sunday and most of Monday as he made his way back home to his wife Brie and their kids.
On Monday, Brie shared a number of photos to Instagram showing her husband wearing sunglasses to hide his gruesome cut but generally ‘still smiling’. He reposted all of them on his page, before sharing a more lengthy message on X.
“Never out of the fight,” he wrote to his 433,000+ followers alongside a photo of himself holding hands with his eldest son Hap. “This picture sums it all up. As long as I’ve got these heartbeats and hands to hold, I’ve already won.”
UFC legends advise Michael Chandler to retire after Paddy Pimblett defeat
Regardless of whether he wins or loses, Michael Chandler is a fan favorite due to his exciting fight style. He is regularly covered in blood, either his own or his opponent’s, and is the type of fighter who will take a shot to land two in an effort to get the knockout.
But after a lengthy career outside the UFC and now a 2-5 run inside of it, legendary world champions Michael Bisping and Henry Cejudo believe that he should hang up the gloves. The Brit reckons that due to his age, Chandler’s career is now over.
“I don’t say this lightly, but that was a career-killing performance for Michael Chandler,” he said in a YouTube video. “If he was 30 years old, he could have another go… But no, Father Time is undefeated. He’s 38 years old and there ain’t no way he’s getting back into title contention ever again.”
Cejudo believes he has one more fight in him, but reckons that it’s not just results that are hurting him; it’s the manner in which he gets to the final bell. “I think Chandler should have just one more fight, man. I really do,” Cejudo said on the Pound4Pound podcast with Kamaru Usman.
“I think we should retire together, maybe on the same card. If I’m Michael Chandler, yeah, I’d retire, bro. That’s too many beatings, dude. It’s not even taking L’s, he’s taking elbows to the face, he’s always cut and bloody. He’s gonna be beloved by people, but he’s lost all of his fights, and people just forget.”
