Michael Chandler delivered an instant classic in his clash against Dustin Poirier. Chandler was edging the lead through the two rounds and even made valiant efforts to submit Poirier.
Poirier could be seen talking to the judge Dan Miragliotta while the two were grappling along the fence.
Chandler has been accused of several fouls. First there was the fish hooking – which is a certified foul and one of the rare moves that you can’t do in MMA.
Then there was the glove grabbing – which is also a big nono in MMA even though UFC isn’t really penalizing it appropriately.
Finally there was the strikes to the back of the head – which are and should be enough to disqualify Chandler but Miragliotta seemed asleep on the job. After all there’s nothing to gain from stopping the action as long as the athletes pretend to even half obey the rules.
And finally there was a problematic moment during which Chandler had blown his blood stricken snotty nose on Poirier.
Poirier wasn’t amused about any of these and had words with both Chandler and Miragliotta during the winner announcement in the octagon.
Chandler came to talk to the press afterwards and disputed that any of it was malicious or intended.
“I will admit, yes, his mouth was open and my hand went inside of there. It was on his mouthpiece. He bit down. I was trying to pull it out. He didn’t.”
“It wasn’t as though I was trying to pull it out and he was biting it and I couldn’t get it out. It was more just the angle. I mean, you’re getting pushed up against the cage. I mean, it’s just and then there was I mean, I think that was all.”
Chandler then addressed the hits to the back of the head:
” And then the other thing was, when Dan Miragliotta was saying I was hit in the back of the head. I don’t know. Yeah. I’ll have to go back and watch it, to be honest with you. But I know I was catching his ear, or at least in my mind I was catching his ear. So we had that kind of conversation. So you all know I ain’t a cheater.”
Chandler was then asked about the bloody nose thing:
“When you were on top, the camera panned it and looked like you blew your nose on him with all the blood. Is that what happened? ”
To which he responded: