“DANG, I REALLY THOUGHT WE WERE MOVING IN THE DIRECTION OF A CORDIAL RESOLUTION,” Michael Chandler wrote on X after his hopes of burying the hatchet with Dustin Poirier went up in flames. You cannot blame ‘Iron’ Mike for this one, but you cannot really be surprised either. One moment Poirier is giving praise and due credit to his rivals including Chandler, the next he’s taking shots at them. What can you say, except that the Hot Sauce Boss wakes up and chooses violence on certain days? But will he do that on April 12 in Miami? Let’s hear Chandler’s thoughts.
‘The Diamond’ is confirmed for a return to the desk analyst role for UFC 314 in Miami, where Chandler will test his mettle against Paddy Pimblett. We can certainly expect the drama to skyrocket in the cage. But what about outside of it? We have seen UFC fighters on broadcast duties get in heated exchanges with their rivals fighting on the card. Remember Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington going at it? Or the time when Covington and Michael Bisping took a few shots at each other? Well, Chandler has left the door open to speculation with his words.
MMA Junkie shared the news with the Instagram community through a post, that showed Poirier on the desk at UFC 303. Yes, this will be ‘The Diamond’s fourth gig as an analyst. He debuted in the role at UFC 287 (in Miami) and returned last year for UFC 303 and then UFC 308. The caption to the post read, “DUSTIN POIRIER RETURNS AS DESK ANALYST FOR UFC 314.” And to make things dramatic, the picture also included Chandler and Pimblett facing off against each other. Taking to the comments section of the Instagram post, the 38-year-old lightweight contender wrote, “Should be….fun.”
Of course, with the recent lashings that Poirier and Chandler sent at each other, their rivalry might just witness an exciting take at UFC 314. Sitting beside Anthony Smith and Chael Sonnen, we can expect the former interim lightweight champion to make some snide remarks regarding his opponent from UFC 281.
UFC 281 didn’t really end well for Chandler. Poirier displayed his superior grappling skills and executed an impressive rear naked choke 2 minutes into round 3. But round 2 is the point of contention. After taking the fight to the ground, Poirier claims ‘Iron’ played multiple fouls. Number one – blowing bloody snot all over his face. Number two – fish hooking to secure a rear naked choke. And number three – illegal shots to the back of the head.
Poirier was staring daggers at referee Dan Miragliotta for not intervening enough during these exchanges. So, he took matters into his own hands and choked Chandler out with a rear naked choke in the third. That ended the fight but started the more-than-two-years-old war of words that is still going on.
Now, Dustin Poirier had reignited the war of words against Michael Chandler even before he had the chance to analyze UFC 314. Well, ‘The Diamond’ reflected back on the time when he fought Chandler. And even though he won the bout, Poirier didn’t step back from calling his former opponent a “cheater.” But why did he say so? And what was Chandler’s reply? Let’s find out!
Dustin Poirier reignites his beef with Michael Chandler before UFC 314
During his appearance on Outta Pocket with RGIII in February 2025, the Lafayette native lashed out at ‘Iron’. He said, “With my personal experience, he’s fake, man. And he’s a cheater! I could go on for days, I get so amped up about this. He does all sorts of stuff, man. Blows the blood in my eyes after I break his nose – that’s cool I’ve done that before, I admitted it after. And then Chandler, I brought it up, and he said he didn’t do it! Like just admit it, bro, you’re so fake. Then he stuck his fingers in my mouth to lift my neck up for a rear-naked choke, right?”
Poirier even said that he bit Chandler’s fingers to fend off the fish hook attempt. According to the former interim lightweight champ, if he were not wearing a mouthguard, Chandler would be a few fingers short now.
However, Chandler didn’t really pay much attention to his former opponent’s chatter when he was asked to talk about it during his appearance on The Zach Gelb Show. He simply claimed that he didn’t think about him, but lived rent-free in his mind. Brushing the comments about being fake and a cheater off like dust on his jacket, ‘Iron’ claimed that it was no big deal and kept moving on. He said, “Not everybody is going to like you, and that’s just fine by me.”
Now, as the hype for UFC 314 goes on the rise, we can expect things to get a bit more dramatic with Poirier and Chandler’s rivalry sipping on a healing potion. Do you think Poirier will let Chandler have some snide remarks during his fight against Pimblett? Or can we expect ‘The Diamond’ to have buried the hatchet and cleared all rivalry with ‘Iron’? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
The post Michael Chandler Has One Reaction to Describe Bitter Rival Dustin Poirier’s Involvement at UFC 314 appeared first on EssentiallySports.