UFC star Michael Chandler has sensationally claimed he beats Charles Oliveira ‘nine times out of ten’ despite losing twice against the Brazilian.
Chandler had revenge on his mind at UFC 309 after Oliveira had stopped him inside two rounds in their first encounter in May 2021.
Chandler (right) tasted defeat against Oliveira for a second time at UFC 309[/caption]
However, Oliveira got the better of his lightweight rival once more, although the second victory came via unanimous decision.
During his appearance on the Ariel Helwani Show, Chandler offered a brutal verdict on his performance against Brazilian.
But it was his eyebrow-raising comment regarding how he believes he’d typically fare against Oliveira that garnered the most attention.
“I mean, I am not happy with my performance,” Chandler said.
“I would give myself a two out of ten. I cannot overstate how horrible of a performance this was or set of circumstances it was after that first round, compared to what my vision was for what I am capable of.
“I believe I beat Charles Oliveira nine times out of 10. Obviously, I’ve lost to him twice now. Two out of two. I have a 100 percent loss rate to Charles Oliveira.
“So, I understand why people might tsk at that, roll their eyes at that. But I just am so unhappy with the performance.
“I am so excited to get healthy and give the fans and the supporters the performance they deserve.”
During the interview, Chandler also addressed Oliveira accusing him of being a ‘dirty fighter’.
The former lightweight champion was unhappy with some of Chandler’s striking throughout the contest, which some pundits and fans felt were shots to the back of Oliveira’s head.
Any strikes to the back of an opponent’s head are deemed illegal in combat sports.
However, Chandler vehemently defended his striking and believed his punches were completely legal.
“The unified rules of mixed martial arts say that there is a line drawn from the crown of the head down to the back of the head, one-inch variance on either side,” Chandler said.
“So, you’re talking about a two-inch area on the back of someone’s head that is considered the back of the head.
“If you watch 90 percent of the shots, at least, most of them, almost all of them, my fist was catching the ear. If you’re catching the ear, that’s not the back of the head.
“Actually, what you and I would call the back of the head is not the actual definition of what it is.
“A referee who was within two feet away never said one thing about it.
“Then you’ve got commentators who were 35 feet away saying it’s the back of the head and you’ve got other people saying it was back of the head.
“If a referee was saying, ‘Watch the back of the head,’ or, ‘That is the back of the head,’ then I’d understand.”
Chandler added: “You want to say I suck at fighting, you want to say I’m not a good technician, you want to say I’ve got low fight IQ, you want to say I should’ve wrestled and not struck, or struck and not wrestled, if you want to talk about these tactical things, that’s completely fine.
“But when you talk about, ‘Hey, this guy’s a dirty fighter because he was striking to the back of the head,’ and it wasn’t really the back of the head.
“And quite frankly we have a guy who gets paid to be locked in the Octagon with you, who has reffed thousands of unified mixed martial arts bouts and never said anything, just like I think it was Herb Dean who didn’t in the [Dustin] Poirier fight, it’s interesting, man.”