Michael Chandler was not impressed by his own performance.

At UFC 309, Chandler fell short in his rematch with Charles Oliveira, losing a unanimous decision in their five-round fight. For most of the fight, Oliveira dominated until Chandler nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback in the final round. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough and Chandler left the bout with not only another loss on his résumé, but a litany of issues, including a knee injury he said he suffered in the first round. But perhaps what hurt him the most was his own disappointment.

“I am not happy with my performance,” Chandler told Ariel Helwani on Wednesday. “I would give myself a two out of 10. I cannot overstate how horrible 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, so I understand why people might tsk at that, roll their eyes at that, but I’m so unhappy with my performance. I’m so excited to get healthy and I’m so excited to give the fans and my supports and everyone else out there the performance that they deserve. ...

“It just was not the performance that I wanted, and it really sucks.”

Chandler previously lost to Oliveira at their vacant lightweight title fight back at UFC 262. It was almost an inverse performance of this one as after nearly finishing “Do Bronx” early, Chandler then got knocked out in the second round.

But while Chandler is disappointed with his own performance, that might not even be what most frustrated him about UFC 309. As Chandler mounted his comeback in the fifth round, the commentary team (and numerous fans) noted that the former Bellator lightweight champion took plenty of liberties with the rules, repeatedly grabbing the fence and then landing multiple shots to the back of Oliveira’s head. And for Chandler, that really annoyed him, because he says it’s all untrue.

“I was a lot happier before I watched the fight than I was after I watched the fight,” Chandler said. “Not necessarily the fight itself, just the commentary, watching it on TV compared to being in the arena. If you were there that night, a lot of people were wowed by it, they loved it, it was an awesome fight. But watching it on TV wasn’t as appealing to me.

“A little bit of the commentary, when it comes to some of the stuff that they were saying. The misinterpretation of what the back of the head is by the unified rules of MMA. The misinterpretation of what ‘cage-grabbing’ is, and a couple of different things. It’s all water under the bridge at this point, but more than anything, I’m an honest guy. I try to live pretty full of integrity and full of honesty and a narrative that has been painted is not very interesting to me. I’m not very happy about it. But it’s all a part of it.

“I’m not going to say I didn’t do anything wrong,” Chandler continued. “I’m not going to say that people couldn’t look at it and splice it and look at it under a fine-toothed comb and a magnifying glass, but the unified rules of MMA say there is a line drawn from the crown of the head down to the neck, once-inch variance on either side. So you’re talking about a two-inch area on the back of someone’s head that is considered the back of the head. And if you watch, 90 percent of the shots, at least, most of them, almost all of them — or at least where I was aiming — all of them, my hand, my fist was catching the ear. So if you’re catching the ear, that is not the back of the head. ...

“A referee who was two-feet away never said one thing about it and then you’ve got commentators who are 35 feet away, saying it’s the back of the head and other people saying it’s the back of the head. Just like the Poirier fight.”

This is not the first time Chandler has faced allegations of in-fight cheating. Chandler fought Poirier at UFC 281, losing via third-round submission in one of the best fights of 2022, and afterward “The Diamond” blasted Chandler for his actions during the fight. Chandler denied those allegations as well, but also added one major caveat to what happened at UFC 309.

“Things are happening,” Chandler said. “It’s going 1,000 miles an hour. ... And ultimately, you’re dropping a guy, you’re down on points, you’re trying to hit him and you’re trying to get him out of there. I’m not 100 percent thinking about that little red line between the back of the head the whole time.”

If Chandler was cheating, it certainly hasn’t helped. The former Bellator lightweight champion is now 2-4 in the UFC.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! I am immensely grateful for all of you, even the haters and losers (of which there are many). Without y’all I wouldn’t have a job (well, I would but it would be something entirely different and far less fun). Hope y’all have a good holiday and rest up because we’ve got like, 18 hours of PFL to watch tomorrow. Should be fun!

EXIT POLL

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