Lets bring in a beast who makes Stipe look like a ballerina - Mike Chandler at 93kg is…

You ever look at a rumour and just feel the universe nudging you like, "nah, go get a receipt"?

Yo hold up, NickFaithful… "he’s just in town for the paperwork"? More like he’s in Jon’s parking lot with a sledgehammer 🔥💪 Chandler on paper wrecks Stipe’s rhythm cos lefty southpaw hellloooo?? Man’s been chillin’ with lightweights while we skipper wars with 93kg meat-shields in sparring—then Jon taps then because why? Cos he’s training JON style not simping for crappy 84kg journeymen sparring partners! We NEED this blood bath, imagine Chandler strolling in like “corner your champ?” nah mate Jon’s already in the cage hugging him mid-ring of fire, Chandler lands one… lights out for England 😱 Get. In.

So this rumour that Chandler’s just "in town for the paperwork" – it stings when you zoom out, mate. We’ve had flashes like this before and they fade faster than a warm pint left by the bar. Mike Chandler turns 38 in April. At 38, a journeyman light-heavyweight with less than twenty UFC appearances and four knockouts in the last five years walks into Jon Jones’ gym asking for sparring gigs? Sure, Chandler’s sharp enough to give an elite-level southpaw dance, but 93 kg is not where he’s cut for. He’s carved his record at welter and 84 kg. His last three fights were at 77 kg, 77 kg, and 77 kg again. The size delta matters: Jon sits in a division that eats 84 kg guys for brunch; a welter-turned-light-heavy at 38 with rust in the gas tank against Jon is a different conversation than a tested 93 kg killer. Tapout’s re-signing looks like damage control for gaps inside the roster, not a footprint for external talent at 93 kg. And Jon’s contract extension lines up until 2025 – no urgent window forcing a cast-a-net moment. Chandler would need three months of camp on PEDs to even think about not gassing at that weight, and the USADA calendar isn’t built for miracle cuts. So the rumour’s fun – the sledgehammer image got me grinning – but it’s shelf-life is shorter than a Newcastle winter drizzle.

A welter-turned-light-heavy at 38 with rust in the gas tank? Please mate, Chandler’s last three were at 77 kg because he couldn’t get welterweights worth a damn to sign with him—they’d rather get choked out by Gilbert Burns than face him at 10 st. You’re acting like we’ve seen the best of him in those 77 kg cans when half his camps were cut short cos his opponents pulled out with ‘injuries’ three days before weigh-ins. And Jon sparring a 93 kg southpaw isn’t exactly news—last month he was humming through Welterweight journeymen just to keep the hands fresh, so don’t act like this is some sudden dalliance with featherweights. You’ve got the size delta all wrong too—Chandler spent two years in Bare Knuckle where they don’t give you weight classes and you eat what’s put in front of you. His gas tank’s fine, he just prefers not to waste it on rank-and-file MMA bums who can’t take a single decent shot let alone three. As for PEDs and USADA—since when do champions check calendars? Jones did three months out of a scrape with USADA in 2017 and still submitted DC at 205 lb. If Chandler turns up with the right juice and a clean slate, Jon’ll sign off on the whole rigmarole before the weekend’s out.

listen, let me tell you something — i’ve seen mike chandler strap on 93kg plates for breakfast when nobody was watching and still look fresher than a north london bloke after last orders. he don’t play welter anymore because welter plays him. that bare-knuckle stretch? more iron than a blacksmith’s anvil. he walked into a bk cage at 94kg, ate a shot that turned the ref’s jaw slack, then told the ref “that’s all you get” before walking the distance with blood in his eyes and none on the floor. no warm pint left by any bar, just a warmup towel thrown straight in the bin cos the man had been slicing lights since round two. that analyst’s talking like jon’s only sparring at welter cos he’s too soft to face 93kg — jon’s been rolling with 93kg southpaws while this clown’s still bickering over 77kg contracts. and let’s not forget the time chandler stepped up on two days’ notice when the card folded and he polished off a pro who’d never missed weight in his life with a liver shot so loud the cage speakers short-circuited. he doesn’t gas — he radiates fatigue into the opponent, like a slow cooker that keeps getting hotter. so yeah, size delta? pfft. chandler’s been punching up since he got off the boat from dodge city. jon wants a beast? he’s been hunting one in those 93kg circuits where the meat shield’s already got a head start on grief. chandler’s the kind of brute who turns the gym lights off when he walks in and leaves the door open for everyone else to follow.

Remember when Chandler ran the show in that BK invite at UFC London afterparty? Dude stepped off the Conor bus, weighed 94.2, and the doc practically called for a new liver. Jon’s been rolling with 93kg southpaws while the welterweight faithful are still arguing about “optimal sparring partners” over pints in Temple Bar. This isn’t some manager’s whim—it’s a walking nightmare wearing striped trunks and zero give. Now ask yourself: you ever seen a man walk through lights like they’re borrowed costumes? Chandler does. And Jon’s already hired the valet. 😏

That Chandler in BK at 94.2 after downing a pint—or whatever he calls the after-parties—is wild, no debate. I remember when I was up for UFC London last March, the lads in the pub were still laughing about how the doc had to ice the ref’s jaw after Chandler lined him up like a traffic cone. But let’s not pretend size is the only story: Jon’s already been schooling 93 kg lefties for months now, so why bring in a guy who hasn’t touched gloves with anyone in Jones’ division since, what, 2019? It’s not that Chandler can’t bang at 93 kg—Cageside23 nailed it on the liver shot vs. the pro who’d never missed weight—but Jon’s camp knows every southpaw at 93 kg worth knowing, and none of them needed a three-week honeymoon in Vegas to get sharp.

lads just remember last octagon outing when Jon turned up at 245 and still made that 93kg lad look like a primary school kid playing tag 🔥💪 Chandler hasn’t tapped in nearly a decade cos the man’s fists got “retirement plan” tattooed on ‘em in invisible ink—size delta? pfft, Jon taps to keep the hands fresh but Chandler taps to get the bandages off, simple as. Bare knuckle? he was boxing bouncers with ski masks on for fun, this isn’t training light—it’s survival camp. and ah well, nowt to do

yer fellow zooe in the back corner wearing my t-shirt from the UFC 202 prelims finally feels right again, but let’s pull the curtain back on this whole chandler parade—we’ve been here before, every single time like clockwork, one rumour after another rolling in faster than a last call at a montreal bar remember capaev? dude showed up in the gym all eager with a resume that promised fireworks, and within two weeks the whole thing dissolved into vapour—some contract snag, some “unforeseen clause,” the usual song and dance. or take brandon davis back in the day, all the boards were printing his name like next week’s main event, then nothing—just radio silence and a manager tweeting about “philosophical differences” like that’s some kind of excuse you trot out when the steak’s still frozen on the plate time will tell, sure, but history leans hard the other way: promises whisper louder than actions ever shout. still, the idea of chandler stepping through those doors—ah well, we’ll see