Michael Chandler is coming off of a tough loss to Charles Oliveira, the Brazilian submission artist, but is bound to pick himself “up by the bootstraps” to finish a tough Justin Gaethje. Chandler is a tough man determined to win gold. I would go so far as to say it’s his “Rocky” moment. As a 35-year old he’s not on a short shotclock, he would still be able to get a title shot if he loses against Gaethje, but he needs this win.

Gaethje has been living the good life since his loss to Khabib in October 2020. He didn’t take an ego hit after that fight because Khabib was basically inaugurated into the Hall of Fame following that fight and his retirement announcement.

Chandler has everything to lose here: another year of fighting to get a title shot, risking a 2 fight skid, losing to a contender who hasn’t fought in over a year, the list goes on. It should be a great fight.