Michael Chandler will make his return to the Bellator cage on January 20th, as he will face Goti Yamauchi. This surprised many who thought a Lightweight Championship contest with Brent Primus was inevitable. Primus won the title from Chandler back at Bellator NYC in June, when Chandler lost the title to Primus after suffering an injury in the first round.
Primus stated that Chandler turned down the rematch because of a desire to change his weight class. But Chandler has another story — that Primus is the one who turned down the rematch, and doing so multiple times.
“I asked for the fight in October at Mohegan Sun. I asked for it in November at Penn State. I asked for it in December overseas. But I am a professional fighter, I am a prize fighter. I’m not going to sit around and wait for somebody who, he himself just had a child and he’s on maternity leave right now, so he just wants to sit around and not do anything. So I’m not going to wait. I have a lot bigger fish to fry and a lot bigger things to do than wait around for somebody who honestly just doesn’t want to take a fight.”
Chandler said that he is “ticked off” and doesn’t understand why Primus would go around and lie to everybody. But for Chandler, regaining the title doesn’t matter anymore. Now, he just wants to have the best fights possible.
“I’ve been in this situation numerous times now, where I am telling Bellator, ‘I want to fight, I want to fight this guy, I want to fight, just give me any fight,’ and Bellator has some people on the roster who just don’t want to fight. They’re part-time fighters.”
“I care about legacy. I care about creating currency for myself and my family, and now my son. My wife and my son. That’s what I want. The belt, to me, is an ornament. I couldn’t care less. I’ve got some big fights that people want to watch, and that’s what’s going to happen.”