UFC Veteran Urged To Retire After Taking Mammoth Beatdown At UFC 314

There comes a time for every fighter in combat sports to call it a career. Unfortunately, many of them are the last ones to admit that time has come. Michael Chandler might be at that point.

As videos showing the damage he took in his TKO loss to Paddy Pimblett at UFC 314 circulate, fans everywhere have begun to push for the 38-year-old former Bellator champion to hang up the gloves.

It was supposed to be a bounce-back fight.

A chance to reassert himself in a division that’s quietly moved on. Instead, Chandler’s performance told the same story we’ve seen before—explosive energy that fizzled out once the damage piled up.

The crowd wasn’t chanting his name while he experienced a face-saving moment the way he did against Charles Oliveira with the back-pack slam. Fans were cringing, and not even Chandler’s signature optimism could mask what everyone was watching.

One fan on Reddit said, “I hope Michael Chandler retires, he’s starting to take the kind of damage you wear for the rest of your life.” A second one said, “I think it’s safe to say he will go the same way Tony [Ferguson] did. Getting destroyed while holding onto that Conor [McGregor] fight.” A third said, “He’s still saying ‘see you at the top,’ bro you want to remember your wife and kids names years down the line. It’s time.”

Chandler had very few moments of success against Pimblett. After the first round, he was dominated on the ground and Pimblett’s length was too much for him in stand-up.

Chandler is 23-10 overall, but just 2-5 in the UFC and he has been stopped in all but two of those losses. It’s not crazy to think that he has been at least buzzed by strikes in all of them.

UFC President Dana White didn’t bury Chandler and join the should he-retire bandwagon. Instead, at the post-event presser, White talked about how exciting Chandler’s fights usually are, and he’s right. But at what cost?

Based on that, a retirement fight is a possibility. Likewise, based on what we saw against Pimblett, some would say no to the concept. However, there could be a case made for him to have one more Octagon walk, if the right opponent is available.

There have been rumors of Donald Cerrone returning to the UFC. Cowboy definitely wants to come back, though White hates the idea. If the two men could meet at 170, that might be a decent sendoff for Chandler.

If he wants something even lighter, perhaps a matchup with another aging lightweight like Jim Miller makes sense. Miller was beaten by a young grappling phenom with improving striking as well at UFC 314 when he fell to Chase Hooper.

In any case, fans are correct, it’s about that time for Chandler to walk away.

What’s Next in the UFC

The UFC is off this weekend, but the next show should be a memorable one.

April 26 – UFC Fight Night in Kansas City at the T-Mobile Center

• Ian Machado Garry vs. Carlos Prates – Welterweight
• Anthony Smith vs. Mingyang Zhang – Light Heavyweight (Smith’s Retirement Fight)
• Giga Chikadze vs. David Onama – Featherweight
• Michel Pereira vs. Abus Magomedov – Middleweight
• Randy Brown vs. Nicolas Dalby – Welterweight
• Ikram Aliskerov vs. André Muniz – Middleweight
• Matt Schnell vs. Jimmy Flick – Men’s Flyweight
• Ahmad Hassanzada vs. Evan Elder – Lightweight
• Chris Gutierrez vs. John Castañeda – Featherweight
• Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Alatengheili – Men’s Bantamweight
• Cameron Saaiman vs. Malcolm Wellmaker – Men’s Bantamweight
• Jacqueline Amorim vs. Polyana Viana – Strawweight
• Timmy Cuamba vs. Roberto Romero – Featherweight
• Chelsea Chandler vs. Joselyne Edwards – Women’s Bantamweight