As Chandler moves on, echoes

It’s difficult for former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler to say what exactly he remembers from his last fight, and what he pieced together from watching the video after the fact.

His best guess, he said, is that it’s “about half and half.” But then, that’s not so unusual for him, even when he hasn’t suffered head trauma leading to a bizarre finish.

“I get done with a fight, and I usually can’t remember a dang thing,” Chandler (12-3 MMA, 9-3 BMMA) told MMAjunkie. “I couldn’t tell you much about any of my fights. … People will say, ‘Oh man, it was so cool when you did that,’ or ‘How did you get out of this?’ Most of the time I just can’t remember. The only way I ever remember is by going back and watching the film.”

When he went back and watched his rematch with Will Brooks at Bellator 131 last November, however, what he saw at the end was a Michael Chandler who did things that Michael Chandler didn’t fully understand.

In the fourth round of a close fight for the vacant Bellator lightweight title, Brooks moved in for a clinch and Chandler used an overhook on Brooks’ left arm to fling him to the mat.

“We both hit the canvas,” Chandler said. “My head bounced off the canvas, and I think that’s where the trouble started.”

He has to phrase it that way – I think – because it’s difficult for him to know for sure. He can go back and watch the video and see what happened next. A glancing right hook from Brooks that caught him high up on the head. A pause as Brooks circled away, expecting Chandler to attack. Chandler stopping and looking off in the direction of the referee, hands out in front of him in a posture that suggested what he wanted more than anything was a minute or two to stop and think this through.

After that it’s Brooks, doing a suspicious little jog toward him as Chandler faded back against the fence, his face all blood and confusion. A couple punches from Brooks, a knee and then an elbow as Chandler turns his back and faces the cage. Referee Kevin Mulhall moves in between them to call it off, and Brooks runs off to begin his celebration. The camera frames Chandler’s face as he looks at Mulhall and mouths the words, “What happened?”

Even now, as Chandler heads into his bout against Derek Campos (12-4) at Bellator 138 in St. Louis this Friday night, it’s a difficult question to answer.

He hasn’t fought since that TKO loss in November. It was his third consecutive loss, following two split-decision defeats, first against Eddie Alvarez and then against Brooks in their first meeting. Before that skid started, Chandler had been undefeated. The decision losses were both at least debatable, but the last one, the strange TKO, that one was clear enough. What remains murky is exactly what happened there, and how Chandler will respond in his first fight back.

In a way, he said, a part of him feels like Brooks caught a bit of a break. After hitting his head on the canvas, Chandler said, “I wasn’t all there.”

“I wasn’t by any means knocked out, but I was definitely dazed,” he said. “I think he definitely got off the hook a little bit, but he beat me. I take full responsibility for the loss.”

The important part now is how he rebounds from the first stoppage loss of his career. According to Eric Del Fierro, who trains Chandler at San Diego’s Alliance MMA gym, that rebound process started with a frank analysis of what was working and what wasn’t.

“We just sat down and said, ‘Let’s see what works for Mike,’” Del Fierro said. “He just felt he needed to make a couple changes to improve his game. I think these things happen. You get caught, and then it’s up to you to make adjustments and get better.”

Chandler has done that in the seven months since his loss to Brooks, Del Fierro said, and with the Bellator lightweight division having relatively few big names at the moment, the team is confident that he’ll be back in title contention soon.

That may mean a third fight with Brooks, who defended the belt against Dave Jansen via unanimous decision in April. And while Brooks is still the only man to stop him inside the distance, the weirdness of the way things ended the last time they met doesn’t seem to worry Chandler when considering the prospect of another bout.

In fact, he said, Brooks likely knows that he’ll have to fight Chandler at least once more, “and I know he really doesn’t want to.”

“Let’s be honest, Will Brooks doesn’t finish fights,” Chandler said. “He gets in, hits you and moves backwards. Even in the Dave Jansen fight, he wasn’t very dominant. He definitely won four of the five rounds, but he doesn’t really dominate you. When I was champion, I was finishing people, knocking them out and choking them out, and people looked at me like I was a champion. People don’t look at him that way. He wins, but he doesn’t really dominate, and people don’t want that in the sport.”

For a former champ like Chandler, Friday night’s fight with a relatively unheralded opponent like Campos seems, on paper, to be one of the lowest profile bouts he’s had in years. For the first time in three years, he’s not defending or fighting for a title of any kind. He’s also much further down the fight card than he’s been in a long time, and taking on an opponent he really can’t afford not to beat.

It’s a lot of pressure, in that sense, and at a critical time for Chandler. Then again, he said, he’s had plenty of time since the last fight to put things in perspective and then put them behind him. When it comes to getting over losses like that, maybe it helps if you can’t quite remember them.

And for more on Bellator 138, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.