Lightweight contenders Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler have been circling each other since the latter entered the UFC in 2021 – and it seems we may now have a date for the heated matchup.
On this Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Ariel Helwani reported that booking was close to being finalized for UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 12th.
Poirier confirmed that he had a fight in the works on social media yesterday:
Chandler has not yet commented on the report but has been vocal about his desire for the matchup in the past months.
The AllStar MMA roundup
- Inside scoop: How do MMA contracts work? An insider’s take
- UFC San Diego: Ode Osbourne says ‘I’ll do what I want to do’ regardless of Tyson Nam’s gameplan
- UFC Vegas 59: Bryan Battle marvels at easy drop to welterweight ahead of clash with “puzzle” Takashi Sato
The best of the rest
- Anthony Pettis: Fighters ‘addicted’ to fame UFC brings, need to test open market – MMAFighting.com
- Conor McGregor joins cast of ‘Road House’ reboot originally set to star Ronda Rousey – MMAJunkie.com
- PFL CEO says ‘outreach’ being made for Kayla Harrison vs. Cris Cyborg, hopes to be in Nate Diaz talks as well – MMAFighting.com
- Dana White believes Amanda Nunes “looked a little gun-shy” in UFC rematch with Julianna Pena: “She never really went in for the kill” – BJPenn.com
- Amanda Nunes a heavy betting favorite again in potential trilogy with Julianna Pena – BloodyElbow.com
The soapbox
Out of surgery safe and sound:
Brazilian prospect gets a fight, pisses off the entire country of Russia:
The heavier Usman discusses his time in the TUF house:
The Tarantula cops an injury:
I’d love to know what that watermelon said to deserve that:
The morning view
UFC prospect Sean Woodson breaks down his upcoming UFC 278 bout:
Chael Sonnen with a decent question and a rant:
Relive some of the heaviest slams in MMA:
Done deals
This week
- Askar Askarov to fight Brandon Royval at UFC event on October 15th (per Iridium Sports)
- Chase Hooper to fight Steve Garcia Jr. at UFC event on October 29th (per Tudor Leonte)
- Dustin Jacoby to fight Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC event on October 29th (per Iridium Sports)
- Joseph Holmes to fight Jun Yong Park at UFC event on October 29th (per Nolan King)
- CJ Vergara to fight Tatsuro Taira at UFC event on October 15th (per Iridium sports)
- John Castañeda to fight Daniel Santos at UFC event on October 1st (per MMA Junkie)
- Tracy Cortez to fight Amanda Ribas at UFC event on December 3rd (per ESPN Deportes)
- Muhammad Mokaev to fight Malcolm Gordon at UFC 280 on October 22nd (per Brett Okamoto)
- Andrei Arlovski to fight Marcos Rogerio de Lima at UFC event on October 29th (per Raphael Marinho)
- Leah Letson out – Julija Stoliarenko to fight Chelsea Chandler at UFC event on October 1st (per Chelsea Chandler)
On this day in MMA…
On the 4th of August, 2018, Henry Cejudo ‘killed the flyweight division’ at UFC 227 in Las Angeles, California.
Cejudo was slated to rematch long-running flyweight king Demetrious Johnson for 125-pound gold. Their last meeting had ended in the first round by strikes, with Johnson the victor.
In the rematch, the Olympic gold medalist would edge a split decision win over Johnson over five rounds and earn his first UFC title. He would defend the title once before moving to bantamweight
This fight would be ‘DJ’s last under the UFC banner, as he’d be traded to ONE Championship soon after, in a deal that saw ONE welterweight champion, Ben Askren, sign to the UFC in exchange (in possibly the worst trade deal in history).
