Charles Oliveira wins rematch, defeats Michael Chandler in UFC 309 co-main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, November 16, 2024, for UFC 309, going down live from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Headlining the event is a heavyweight championship encounter showcasing former multi-time UFC light-heavyweight champion and current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones (27-1) 1 NC, who faced former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic (20-4) in tonight’s main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event was a lightweight rematch between no. 2 ranked former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira (35-10) 1 NC and no. 7 ranked former three-time Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler (23-9).
Oliveira, following a tough opening round in their first encounter back at UFC 262, rebounded with a stunning knockout victory just 19 seconds into round two to claim the UFC lightweight title back in 2021.
Tonight Chandler had a chance to avenge his first promotional defeat and leapfrog the division to potentially get the next crack at the winner of Islam Makhachev versus Arman Tsarukyan II at UFC 311.
Continue reading to see how our UFC 309 co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Charles Oliveira def. Michael Chandler via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-45)
Round one already showcased a much different fight than we had the first time around.
Each man looked good on the feet through the opening 90 or so seconds until Oliveira secured a takedown. Chandler rolled in attempt to escape it, though would get his leg wrapped up in the process. He was able to get his leg out of danger but spent the remaining three plus minutes of round one on his back.
Oliveira started to land his right hand in the second, wobbling Chandler with it twice, also partially landing a nice head kick and a knee up the middle right to the chin. Chandler started firing back, landing a couple good punches of his own, though he was taken down and was again unable to get back to his feet.
Oliveira really started tagging Chandler up in the third, landing his right uppercut seemingly at will as well as a wide variety of other strikes. He secured another takedown but this time was able to take Chandler’s back where he rode out the second half of round three.
Chandler landed four hard punches early on in the fourth, though Oliveira was still right there, walking him down and landing his own strikes. Oliveira took Chandler’s back along the fence before securing the body triangle as they hit the mat. Though he was still unable to submit him Oliveira again controlled the fight entirely once it hit the mat and didn’t allow Chandler up.
The first ever round four of Oliveira’s career went great for him. The same couldn’t be said about the first round five of his career however. After being dominated for 20 straight minutes Chandler nearly secured one of the greatest comebacks in MMA history.
Chandler hurt Oliveira badly on the feet beginning with a vicious right hand, and continued battering him until he was forced to drop. The former champion ate an absurd amount of punches on the ground from here, many of which were landed to the back of the head, Keith Peterson doing nothing to stop it.
Oliveira survived however and ended up getting back to his feet where Chandler got reckless, again getting his back taken where Oliveira was able to ride out the remainder of the fight.
Charles Oliveira improves to 13-2 in his last 15 fights tonight with win over Michael Chandler at UFC 309.
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