A former fighter has questioned how Michael Chandler has kept his place in the top 10 of the lightweight rankings despite failing to record a single “quality win” in the UFC.
Chandler is set for his first assignment of 2025 at this weekend’s UFC 314 pay-per-view, which he’ll co-headline opposite Paddy Pimblett.
The former Bellator champion will be defending his #7 spot in the 155-pound division five months on from a defeat to Charles Oliveira that has left him 2-4 in the UFC.
And the two victories on that résumé — knockouts of Dan Hooker and Tony Ferguson in 2021 and 2022, respectively — aren’t enough to make former UFC welterweight Matt Brown believe Chandler’s position in the top 10 is warranted.
“The problem with Michael Chandler, he doesn’t have a quality win in the UFC,” Brown said during a recent episode of MMA Fighting’s The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I mean you could debatably say Dan Hooker. How high quality of a win was Dan Hooker at that time? I think (Hooker has) been on a streak, and he’s finally come into his own since then. I think it would be a higher quality win today than it was then but Tony Ferguson isn’t a quality win. I don’t think anybody’s going to argue that.
“I don’t know how Michael Chandler is in the top 10. I love Michael Chandler, I’m not hating on him at all, but most people have to win fights to get into the top 10. He just didn’t,” Brown continued. “Sometimes the rankings are kind of odd. They’re subjective, not really objective. But regardless, my point is we’re going to find out a lot about Paddy Pimblett because this is definitely the toughest guy that he’s fought.”
