“Losses are a part of the sport, and when you’re fighting top guys in the top of the division, it just happens,” said Chandler, who makes his sophomore season debut this weekend when he squares off with Tony Ferguson in a highly anticipated lightweight clash in the middle of Saturday’s UFC 274 pay-per-view main card. “If you look at my strength of schedule since I came into the UFC, I’ve done nothing but fight Top 5 guys, so the way I see it is that any of us in the Top 5 can lose to any of us inside the Top 5 on any given night; it just so happens I’ve lost the last two.
“It doesn’t bring any added pressure to me,” he said when asked about those consecutive setbacks. “I want to go out there and compete. There is no doubt in my mind that if I put together a great performance, I beat any lightweight on the planet.”
Saturday’s matchup with Ferguson is one that had been discussed when Chandler first touched down on the UFC roster, but never materialized, leading the loquacious and mercurial Mr. Ferguson to hit Chandler with one of his current favorite catchphrases.
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“I think it was September when I first came to the UFC — we were going to sign to fight Tony in October, but he said, ‘No,’” recalled Chandler, whose first assignment in the UFC was to serve as the backup fighter for the UFC 254 lightweight title fight between Gaethje and Khabib Nurmagomedov. “I weighed in in October, he wanted to fight me four weeks later, and I said, ‘No, I’m going home to spend some time with my family,’ so his interpretation of that was me dodging him.
“I will give him that; he can have it. He accused me of having ‘Dana White Privilege’ which is absolutely true — I am Dana’s favorite fighter, so I’m going to continue to enjoy that sentiment.”
The veteran lightweight laughed before continuing.
“It’s all fun. At times in life, what we look at as privilege is really just earned, merited. I came into the UFC and said nothing but ‘Yes’ to fights and done nothing but show up, get after it, and work hard.
“I’ve enjoyed my time thus far and I will enjoy stepping into the Octagon with Tony.”
