Michael Chandler is set to fight for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 262 against Charles Oliveira, but he has been taking shots at Dustin Poirier.
Although Chandler has been focusing on his own fight, he has been taking subtle jabs at Poirier. Many expect the winner of Chandler-Oliveira to fight the winner of Poirier-McGregor, however, “Iron” says he has been talking trash to Poirier because he started it.
“Conor has not said one negative thing about me. Conor hasn’t really said my name at all. Not that that is a good thing or a bad thing. Poirier has. That’s fine. He can have his opinion of me. ‘I haven’t earned it’ or he’d rather sell hot sauce than fight me for the title, or it’s ‘fool’s gold.’ It was more directed at him because he’s been the guy that’s said the most,” Chandler told MMAjunkie.com.
“He’s got a big fight ahead of him. He’s got the biggest fight of his life ahead of him,” Chandler continued. “Finishing a trilogy with Conor McGregor is the biggest thing he’s got on his plate. But then again, I should be more worried about Charles Oliveira, I guess.”
The trash-talk between Poirier and Chandler has been going on ever since Chandler scored a KO win over Dan Hooker at UFC 257. After the fight, many wondered if “The Diamond” would fight the former Bellator champ, but he made it clear he was not interested in that. He told him he needed to work his way up the lightweight ranks, and would rather sling hot sauce than fight Chandler.
Chandler enters his title fight against Oliveira riding a three-fight winning streak. Before his successful UFC debut, he scored first-round KO’s over Benson Henderson and Sidney Outlaw. He also has beaten the likes of Patricky Freire, Brent Primus, and Eddie Alvarez among others.
