Ahead of his overdue return to action at UFC 309, Michael Chandler has once more predicted a win over pound-for-pound number one and lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev — touting his wrestling background as more effective than the Russian’s dominant Sambo arsenal.
Chandler, the current number six ranked lightweight contender, will snap a two-year hiatus from the Octagon later this year in the co-main event of UFC 309, taking on soon-to-be two-time foe, Charles Oliveira in their five round rematch at Madison Square Garden.
As for Makhachev, the Makhackhala native was ruled from a UFC 308 return at the end of next month amid an unspecified arm injury, seeing a targeted rematch for the title against the surging number one contender, Arman Tsarukyan fall to the wayside.