Some critics and rivals may take jabs at Michael Chandler, pointing to his UFC record of just 2 wins and 5 losses, but one thing’s for sure—the former three-time Bellator champion has never backed down from a challenge. His latest outing at UFC 314 ended in a tough loss, as he was thoroughly dominated by Paddy Pimblett, who secured a statement victory that echoed even in the upper echelon of 155lbs. So, what went wrong for Chandler? Team Khabib’s head coach, Javier Mendez, didn’t hold back in his analysis, offering a brutally honest take on the fight—one that Chandler himself might not be too thrilled to hear.

Chandler did what the Missouri native always does, and that’s being as aggressive as he can be last weekend. The AKA head honcho was looking forward to the 38-year-old’s performance and hoping he’d win. But when it all came down to reality, Mendez just didn’t think Chandler would have been able to win it anyway because of his style, which involves throwing caution to the wind.

In fact, Javier Mendez always thought that Chandler could improve as a fighter because he’s got all the “potential” any top fighter may have. But as we all witnessed, Pimblett has shown some real improvement as well, and now, nobody can respond negatively when the Liverpudlian yelled out after the fight, “What now?”

“When it came to who I wanted to win, because I don’t know Paddy, I know Michael, I wanted Michael to win. But when it came to who I thought was going to win, I thought it was going to be Paddy because I personally have seen Michael fight on many occasions, and I just don’t think he fights to his best potential,” Team Khabib’s head coach stated on the Javier & Mo Show.

Regardless, the self-proclaimed most entertaining fighter in the UFC lived up to his claims because, even though the loss was lopsided, it was still an exciting co-main event fight. But one important thing that ‘Iron’ didn’t focus on was his knack for going all guns blazing and faulty game plan during the matchup, offering plenty of chances to Paddy Pimblett to take advantage of.

“I just thought he was going to make it entertaining, and he was going to survive, dying by the sword type of mentality. That’s what I thought,” Javier Mendez added. “So, he died by the sword because he went out and did things that probably weren’t to his benefit, and Paddy capitalized on it and, therefore, got the victory.”

Michael Chandler may not have performed at his best last weekend and in his last few fights. But Joe Rogan believes it might have been otherwise as he backed the former Bellator champion despite his loss last weekend. Here’s what he had to say!

Joe Rogan claims UFC did not get the prime Michael Chandler

Michael Chandler joined the UFC at a time when most fighters had crossed their athletic peak. He debuted at UFC 257 again Dan Hooker at the age of 34. For many fighters, there’s little hope that they’d ever win a world title at this stage, but ‘Iron’ found himself fighting for the belt just after his debut UFC fight. The Missouri native almost got the job done at UFC 262 against Charles Oliveira. But fell short again! Although he failed on that occasion and in his last few fights, Joe Rogan claimed that he would have seen success inside the Octagon if he had come to the UFC during his prime.

When Chandler was in Bellator, he had some great wars, especially the twin bouts against former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 58 and Bellator 106, which Joe Rogan appears to be a fan of. “Honestly, we got Michael Chandler after his prime. If you go watch Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez in Bellator, those were f—ing crazy fights,’ the 55-year-old stated on the JRE MMA Show #166 to guest Ilia Topuria.

Well, it remains to be seen what lies ahead for Michael Chandler since he has made it apparent through his social media posts that he’s not done. While the Conor McGregor fight is seemingly out of the question, who do you think he will fight next? Drop your comments below.