To say that Paddy Pimblett wiped the floor with Michael Chandler would be an understatement. Although the first round of their FC 314 co-main event clash was pretty even, ‘The Baddy’ utterly dominated ‘Iron’ on the ground, battering the former Bellator champion en route to a bloody TKO win.
So what does this mean for ‘Iron’ Mike’s future? Well, a UFC veterans has pretty dire predictions for the former Bellator champ’s career going forward. UFC commentator and former champion Michael Bisping took to his YouTube channel, where he spoke about why he was so impressed with the Englishman’s performance.
But as far as Chandler was concerned, Bisping felt that this was the end of the 38-year-old fighting at the top level, and to any possible title aspirations ‘Iron’ Mike may harbor. “And I don’t say this lightly but that was a career-killing performance for Michael Chandler. Yes of course he’ll fight again, yes he’ll still make money, yes people will want to tune in, but that’s it. There ain’t no more title talks. There’s no more see you at the top,” he added.
UFC 314 – Volkanovski vs Lopes MIAMI, FL – APRIL 12: Michael Chandler and Paddy Pimblett meet in the octagon for a 3-round bout at UFC 314 – Volkanovski vs Lopes at Kesaya Center on April 12, 2025 in Miami, FL Photo by Louis Grasse/PxImages Miami, FL Kesaya Center MIAMI, FL United States Copyright: xLouisxGrassex
It is important to remember that Dana White has already said that he doesn’t really care about Chandler losing, and the Missouri native will fight in the UFC “as long as he wants”. But with his unceremonious loss to Pimblett, who was #12 coming into UFC 314, Chandler is likely going to serve as the gatekeeper for the top ten of the division. And Bisping’s sentiment was shared in large part by another UFC veteran, who was even more condemnatory of ‘Iron’ Mike.
Josh Thomson joins Michael Bisping in condemning Michael Chandler after UFC 314
Former UFC star Josh Thomson thinks that Michael Chandler’s UFC 314 performance showed that “he’s got one foot out the door.” In fact, ‘Punk’ felt that “washed” Chandler wasn’t really interested in fighting anymore because “he’s literally made so much money.”
In fact, Thomson had suspected that Chandler wasn’t really in fighting anymore since “the Charles Olivera fight” at UFC 309, where he lost a unanimous decision to ‘Do Bronx’. In fact, it was in that fight that Thomson saw a very different version of ‘Iron’ than he had previously, which had convinced him that Chandler’s heart was not in fighting anymore. And any doubts the UFC vet had left about ‘Iron’s motivation and drive were cleared up in the Pimblett fight.
“The Michael Chandler that we knew that was very comfortable with constantly fighting hands, constantly trying to spin inside the body lock, all of those things we had seen multiple times against world-class fighters of him doing that. And in this situation, literally settling on the bottom, literally just being comfortable just hanging out on his hands and knees just with no risk control, just kind of hanging there and letting himself get hit, those are the things that when I’m watching as a fighter he’s checked out,” Thomson told co-host ‘Big’ John McCarthy on their ‘Weighing-In’ podcast.
What do you think about Bisping and Thomson’s take on Michael Chandler’s future? Let us know in the comments down below.
The post “He Is Washed”- Michael Chandler Gets Career Ending Judgment as 2 MMA Veterans Blast UFC 314 Performance appeared first on EssentiallySports.