Michael Chandler has admitted it is “tough” to hear fans and fighters accuse him of being a cheater, as he prepares to face Paddy Pimblett on Saturday.
Chandler was accused of intentionally throwing illegal strikes to the back of Charles Olveira’s head in November, while Dustin Poirier previously claimed that “Iron Mike” ‘fish-hooked’ him and blew blood from his nose into Poirier’s face.
‘Fish-hooking’ involves a fighter pulling their opponent’s head up by grabbing the inside of their mouth, to facilitate a choke. In any case, Poirier was the one to beat Chandler with a choke in their 2022 meeting, while Oliveira outpointed the American – having previously secured a TKO of Chandler.
“I mean, the narrative is tough, man,” Chandler, 38, told MMA Fighting. “People don’t really know me. Unless you’re in my inner circle, you don’t know who I truly am outside of [being] in front of the camera.
“People have their sneaky suspicions that I play nice in front of the camera, and I’m a bad guy behind the camera. You’re always going to have those accusations, right?
“But I know who I am, and I know who I am at my core; I’m a guy who tries to do things right, tries to treat people right, do things with honor and respect. So, the cheating narrative is a little tough for me, but also, it’s all part of the court of public opinion, man.
“Did I grab Dustin Poirier’s mouthpiece? Yes, I did, because I thought it was his chin. I’ve already addressed that one. Things happen in a fight. Are you going to reach over and grab the cage? Are you going to get your fingers in the glove? Yeah, those things are going to happen in a fight.
“In the last fight, Charles Oliveira dug his chin so deep into my eye socket that I thought I was going to go blind, which ...
