Michael Chandler explains why he’s not interested in fighting Arman Tsarukyan next: ‘That’s not how you get a fight with me, dude’
Michael Chandler won’t be fighting Arman Tsarukyan next time out.
Ever since Chandler got into the UFC, he has been vocal about wanting to fight Conor McGregor. Yet, through his first five UFC fights, it hasn’t happened but now it appears it could be on the verge of happening next which is why Chandler isn’t interested in responding to Tsarukyan’s callout.
“I didn’t respond, because I haven’t even seen him fight,” Chandler said on the “Believe You Me” podcast with Michael Bisping (h/t MMAJunkie). “Not disrespecting or whatever. I know he fought (Mateusz) Gamrot; I haven’t really seen Gamrot fight either. I appreciate the callout. That’s exactly what I would do if I was him, but no thanks, man. I’m over here talking about Conor and TUF. You think I’m worried about freaking Arman Tsarukyan with a silent T at the beginning of his name? It was a good callout, good for him. He was coming at me, but that’s not how you get a fight with me, dude.”
Chandler is currently ranked fifth at lightweight while Tsarukyan is eighth so it does make sense for Tsarukyan to call him out. However, the former Bellator lightweight champion has his eyes set on Conor McGregor and higher-profile names.
Michael Chandler (23-8) is coming off a submission loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 281. Prior to that, Chandler scored a second-round KO over Tony Ferguson, in what was one of the best knockouts of 2022. The victory over Ferguson also snapped his two-fight losing skid after dropping a decision to Justin Gaethje and losing by KO to Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title. In his UFC debut, Chandler scored a first-round TKO win over Dan Hooker.
As for Arman Tsarukyan, he’s currently 19-3 and returned to the win column last time out with a decision win over Damir Ismagulov. In his UFC run, he also holds notable wins over Matt Frevola, Olivier Aubin-Mercier, and Joel Alvarez among others.
