Digital Social Hour - Why This UFC Star REGRETS His Past Mental Approach to Fighting | Michael Chandler DSH #955

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

Why This UFC Star REGRETS His Past Mental Approach to Fighting 🥊 Michael Chandler opens up about his journey from self-sabotage to success! 💪 Tune in as Chandler shares how losing taught him to own his mindset and unlock his true potential. From small-town dreams to UFC stardom, he reveals the power of believing in yourself and daring greatly. 🌟 Don't miss out on Chandler's insights on: • Overcoming mental barriers in fighting 🧠 • Balancing family life with a UFC career 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 • The impact of 10x Health on his performance 💯 • His thoughts on retirement and legacy 🏆 Join the conversation and discover how Chandler's approach to losses transformed his career. This episode is packed with valuable insights for fighters and non-fighters alike! Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets from top athletes and entrepreneurs. Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 #DigitalSocialHour #MichaelChandler #UFC #MentalToughness #FighterMindset #SeanKelly #Podcast #peakperformanceprotocol #conormcgregor #ufc #mma #heavyweightmma CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 01:27 - Michael Chandler's Training Regimen 02:55 - No Regrets in Fighting 06:07 - Becoming a Complete Fighter 10:16 - Seizing the Moment in MMA 11:57 - Pain Tolerance in Combat Sports 15:33 - Is Jon Jones the Greatest of All Time? 18:12 - Who's the GOAT in Your Weight Class? 20:10 - Regrets About Losses in Career 22:01 - Considering Power Slap Competition 27:35 - Female UFC Fighters vs. Regular Guys 29:45 - Parental Struggles as Motivation 30:40 - Perspective on Parents' Influence 34:30 - Importance of Mental Health in Sports 37:10 - Owning Your Losses in MMA 39:53 - Impact of X3 Bar on Michael’s Life 42:25 - Final Thoughts on MMA Career APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: Michael Chandler https://www.instagram.com/mikechandlermma/ SPONSORS: BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com/DSH LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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in the sport. All right guys, Digital Social Hour. We're here with Michael Chandler in Nashville. Thanks for having me, man. Of course, man. Thank you for coming to the greatest city in the world. Absolutely. We were just talking about Nashville off-error.

This is a good city. It's in my top three now, I'm not even kidding. It's really, really cool. Great place to raise a family. You know, I've got two sons and the people are just top notch. Yeah, I know family is super important to you. When you were deciding where to live,

was that a big reason why you moved here? It was, you know, we were living in San Diego and we knew we were gonna move because I started training in Florida, which I still train with that team and will train with that team for the rest of my career. And you know, we looked at Texas. We're both, my wife and I are both from Missouri.

So Tennessee's got that kind of, it's just, it's that Southern hospitality, a little bit of Midwest, a little South, but it's also a really cool city in the sense that there's so many people moving here. There's so much, so much going on. You can have a, have a very, very, uh, fun time. You can also just chill and be relaxed. Every person we talked to before I moved here was like, this is a great place to raise a family,

from the schools to the morals to just the fabric of the ethos of the city. So it's a great place. I love it, man. I've been keeping up with your workouts of the day. Man, they are intense. Yeah, we go pretty hard. You go hard. And the fascinating is, because you don't have a fight lined up right now, right? No. But. Yeah, we go pretty hard. You go hard.

And the fascinating is, because you don't have a fight lined up right now, right? No. But you're still training super hard. Always, man. I think I just look at it like every day that I don't. You know, obviously there's times where I need to pull back.

There's times where I need to take it a little bit easy. Because as an athlete who takes it as serious as I do, it's very easy to turn into a robot. And you become so anal and so focused on doing everything perfect. And you get hard on yourself if you have a little bit of a bad meal, or you harden yourself if you didn't go hard enough.

So I like to pull back. But for the most part, man, I'm 100% go all the time. And I think that's why I've had such longevity in the sport. My body feels great. I'm 38 years old. So a lot of guys don't make it at a high level where I'm at this long. And I think it has a lot to do with coming out of training

camp and getting fat and slow and sloppy and getting out of shape and then trying to work back into shape. I just try to stay in shape all the time. You're like the brawn of the UFC. Trying to. That's what I've done a lot of research. I'm really trying to maximize my body and get the most I can out of it. Because I got this a lot of research. I'm really trying to maximize my body

and get the most I can out of it. Because I got this short run of opportunity to compete in the cage for as long as I can. And before you know it, it's going to be over. And I want to be able to answer that question truthfully. Did I do everything I could with the gifts that I was given? Did I give all of myself to it when I took those gloves off for the last time?

And I think I'm doing an all right job at it, so I'm going to keep on going. I love it. No regrets, right? No regrets, so I'm going to keep on going. I love it. No regrets, right? No regrets, man. Do you feel like you're still getting better at your age? I do. And actually, it was very interesting because I,

a little bit of backstory, like over the last year and a half, I've been kind of waiting for this fight with Conor. Yeah. So me and Conor McGregor do the Ultimate Fighter. We're on ESPN for 12 weeks. It's a great opportunity. We signed to fight each other in June just a couple months ago. He pulls out of the fight. But between that, I kind of pulled myself out of the

gym to just heal up a little bit, focus on just fitness and enjoying life and working on things outside of just fighting. So I was out of the gym a lot out of the mixed martial arts gym a lot for about over a year. And I feel like I started the next training camp almost as a blank slate. Got rid of some bad habits that I had. I had more of a zeal for the love and the passion that of a sport that really is a grinding, just a grinder.

So you kind of lose a little bit of that passion because you're just constantly grinding. So pulling myself out of it, my last camp I had was the best camp of my life. And the best sparring session I ever had was on Thursday, June 12th or 13th. The day I got the call that Connor pulled out of the fight. Wow.

So with that, you know, that proof is in the pudding right there. Like I still feel phenomenal at 38 and I love that world title. Do you think that fight will ever come back to light? You know, I do. I think it's really just going to depend on timing and making a decision. I think if, if we're going to, if this fight's going to drag out any longer, if it's going to be into 2025, I'm probably going to timing and making a decision. I think if this fight's gonna drag out any longer, if it's gonna be into 2025, I'm probably gonna pivot and fight someone else

or I'm at least open to it. And if it is, it's gonna be a big fight. It's gonna be a top five, top three guy, number one contender. Give me the opportunity to go out there, beat a guy who's in the top of the division, and then go win the title. The title, winning the UFC gold

and being the number one fighter consensus ranked the number one fighter in the world has always been the goal. This last year or so chasing the Conor thing and following the Conor fight was always a nice big, it's the biggest fight you can possibly have. So it makes sense to follow it and exhaust that, ride that horse till you get bucked off. But at some at some

point you realize you might have bet on the wrong horse he's like betting on a three-legged horse in a race this episode of digital social hour is brought to you kick off an exciting football season with bet MGM an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League yard after yard down after down the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BetMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump

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Gambling problem? For free assistance call the Connex Ontario Helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. You buy better help. How do you keep cozy during the holiday season? My favorite way is wrapping up in a blanket and watching Christmas movies with my family

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like the therapist assigned to you for no additional charge. Find peace and comfort this December with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash dsh today to get 10% off your first month. That's better help. H e l p dot com slash DSH. We'll we'll make our decision. And either way, I believe I win gold by 2025. Love it, man. Love that mindset. Do you believe it's possible to be a complete fighter? Or do you believe every fighter has a weakness?

I think every fighter is going to have weaknesses. And it's a great question. Because people always say, hey, how much film do you believe every fighter has a weakness? I think every fighter is going to have weaknesses. And it's a great question. Because people always say, hey, how much film do you watch? Yeah. Right. How much you focused on your opponent? How much are you changing your style to the opponent? And I'm not saying my way is the right way,

but I've always focused so much more on my strengths, what I'm good at. And I know I've got deficiencies. I know I've got things I can get better at. And I'm constantly working on those things, but overall, I'd rather double down on my strengths than really focus on all my weaknesses, because a lot of times you focus on your weaknesses. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy of the shot you don't want to get hit with, or you lose the way you don't want to lose, or Conor McGregor's got a really

great pullback left hand. Let's focus on not getting hit with that, when really, if I just focus on me, the best being the best version of myself, I can find myself not falling into that self-fulfilling prophecy of getting hit with a shot. I don't want to get hit with. Um, and ultimately too, you know, we're all, we all got different strengths. We all got two arms and two legs and we all got certain athletic abilities and gifts, but we're all going to have a weaknesses. There's always going to be, and sometimes your weakness

is better than some other people's strengths, but they're just not even as close to as good or as effective as your strengths are. So is it really a weakness or is it just, you're not as good at certain things? I'm not gonna be great at spinning back kicks or like these certain things that we think we need to do as mixed martial arts.

Keep it simple, keep the main thing the main thing and focus on the strengths. What an interesting mindset. So just doubling down on your strengths. I think so. I mean, it's just human nature too, right? You have things you're good at. You probably enjoy those things.

You have things that you suck at. And if you just constantly focused on trying to be better at these things that you suck at instead of hiring somebody to do the thing that you suck at and they enjoy, right? So I look at it like that. If I look at my fight performances like I'm trying to run a business,

do I want to try to say, hey, there's these five things that these guys are better than me at. And I know I can work on them a little bit, but why don't I just focus on the things that I'm really good at? And I've got a pretty decent record over the last 16 years, won world titles and ranked the top six in the world. So I must be doing decent enough to with my strengths and how I focus on my strength. So

that's what we focused on and we'll keep getting better in all areas. Absolutely. How tough was that transition from Bellator to the UFC? I think it was not hard physically because I always say I think the reason I always wanted to go to the UFC not was not because For any other reason besides the fact that I I trained with guys in the UFC trained with world champions in the UFC Trained with all these guys and I saw the way they lived their lives and I thought man I'm living my life more like a champion training harder just as disciplined if not more Disciplined and doing all the right things right so I deserve to go out there and be on the biggest platform.

But mentally, it was a scary, scary thing. I was in Bellator, I had a very, very secure standing in Bellator. You were champ, right? Champ and in the biggest name in Bellator, and I was making good money, and I was at the top of that heap so to speak. So when you bet on yourself, there's the opportunity cost of, well, if I make this decision, I

could give up on this. If I make this decision and that doesn't go well and I quote unquote made a bad decision, I should have stayed. So I think it was more just a lot of praying about it and seeking wise counsel and just constantly visualizing it and seeing it until it became clear to me that door just opened. For years when I was going through contract negotiations or getting close to free agency, that door just seemed like it was just a little bit locked.

Like I knew the door would open if I wanted to force my way into it, but it was just locked, right? And then all of a sudden it was just wide open. This has gotta be the time to do it. And then I signed with the UFC, Khabib retires his first fight. I fight Dan Hooker, number five, knock him out,

and then get the title shot. And it's just, it all worked out at the right time. Yeah, the timing was impeccable. It could be the right decision at the wrong time, right? And it could be the right decision. It's just not ready to be made yet. So it worked out great. And I'm really glad I waited till 2020 to do it.

Yeah, you seized the moment. I seized the moment. Because that seems like a very pivotal fight. Like I know the UFC is pretty cutthroat. If you lose a couple fights, you're out, right? Yeah. And that was the thing. And that's what I told the UFC in my negotiations.

I said, hey, listen, you know who I am. You've seen my fights. I obviously know who you guys are. I want to fight the toughest guys right away. I'm here to prove to myself, more importantly than anybody else, either I am who I say I am or you guys are. I want to fight the toughest guys right away. I'm here to prove to myself more importantly than anybody else, either I am who I say I am or I am not. I believe I can hang with the best guys in the world. So throw me into the shark-infested waters of the UFC.

And since I've signed with the UFC, I've had five fights. Every single fight has been top five, top two, top three, fights of the night, performances of the night, knockout of the night, debut of the year, fight of the year. It's just fighting the toughest guys. And that's what I asked for. And they've made good on that promise. And I said, I want to be a good thing for your organization.

And I also told Dana, I said, hey, I don't think four years ago I would have been the man that you need me to be for your organization. I wouldn't have been the champion. I wouldn't have been the mature veteran that you need and you deserve to be fighting in your organization. So here I am fully matured Blossoming ready to go take on the greatest challenge of my life and it's worked out well so far I love it. You might be the oldest champ of all time man. That would be that would be great

I don't know who it is right now, but 38 is pushing it probably. 38 is pushing I think I think 40 who was it steep a maybe or somebody right around there But man, well heavyweight's not as much competition. So yeah, and you see you see those guys fighting longer I think 40, who was it, Stipe maybe or somebody right around there, but man. Well, heavyweight's not as much competition, so. Yeah, and you see those guys fighting longer. You know, I think it's because it takes, I don't want to say less skill, but it's like, when you're a 155 pounder, you gotta stay fast.

You gotta have good cardio. You gotta have power. You gotta have it all. Whereas the heavyweight's just like, hey, I got a right hand or a left hook and I gotta just put your lights out because I'm a large, large human being. Yeah, absolutely.

Do you feel like there was a fight where your opponent brought out the best version of you? Yeah, I mean, I think Justin Gaethje. The Justin Gaethje fight, it was fight of the year 2021. Yeah, a legendary fight. Madison Square Garden. Yeah, it was awesome. And obviously, I lost that fight, right, on the scorecards,

right, lost the fight. But I use air quotes because did I really lose? In the sport of mixed martial arts, winning is very important. You wanna get the nod, you wanna get your hand raised, but sometimes you win even though you lost on the scorecards, right? And I think that was one of those fights

when it's like I won fans over, people saw who I was, they saw the heart, they saw, fighting is so much bigger than punches and kicks and knees and elbows in this competition that we have called fighting in a cage, right? It makes people feel something. They won't remember the exact performance, but they'll remember how you made them feel, just like they won't remember what you said, but they'll remember how you made them feel, how they felt while you were around them.

So that fight, because it was a scary fight, Justin Gaethje is an absolute warrior. Yeah. I wasn't scared of him, so to speak, but it was a scary fight. I'm like, that man right there will die in this cage. I know he is willing to die in this cage. He is that kind of guy. So those are the kind of fights that you get up for and you get excited for, and he brought out the best in me.

Wow, what a scary feeling, knowing your opponent's ready to just die. Oh, 100%. And I think anybody who's a mixed martial arts fan who's watching this was like, yeah, Justin Gaethje's on the Mount Rushmore of, yeah, that guy would die in a cage and would have no second thoughts.

And the funny thing about me is, as I sit here today, consciously hanging out with my buddy, I know I'm not gonna die in the cage, right? But when I go inside of the cage and that cage door locks, that guy who fights in there, he is willing to die. And it's crazy how you can, that is me, it's my flesh and blood, it's my heartbeat, but you're just in your zone and you're willing to come what may, whatever happens,

which is just, and I think that's why people love the sport. They don't, if they can't really compare it to any of their life experiences, it's such an interesting perspective. I like watching this, but I can't really put myself in that place. Yeah, because it's the fight or flight kicking in for you. So it's like a whole other version of you. Yeah, and it's funny too.

People always say, man, does it hurt? And how much pain have you been in? And I mean, the funny thing is, for me, I'd love to tell all you guys that I'm this big tough guy and I have this huge pain tolerance. But really, when you're in there, man, and adrenaline is pumping, and you're in the spirit of competition, you don't really feel anything.

Wow. You feel the impact. You feel your head jar back when someone pops you in the mouth or the nose or the jaw. But you're not really feeling that pain like you would right now if I punched you in the mouth or the nose or the jaw. But you're not really feeling that pain like you would right now if I punched you in the face. Interesting. Which fighter did you feel the most pain with?

So the funny thing is, one of the only times I really felt a lot of pain was I threw a kick on Eddie Alvarez years ago, and I kicked him right in the hip. The punches, not because of the gloves, but just the punches, you don't really feel that much. It's kind of like, especially the really, really good ones. When you land a nice clean shot, people say it's like the hitting the sweet spot on the bat.

It feels like it didn't even hit the bat, and then it's gone. But I threw a kick on Eddie Alvarez. I kicked him right in the hip and I bent my toes, like bent my foot in half. I like limped around for like 45 seconds and he beat the crap out of me for like a minute while I was getting my feet back underneath me.

That was the most pain I've ever been in an actual fight. Training, you're in pain all the time because your senses aren't as, or your fight or flight, your adrenaline isn't as high, you're trying to stay more present so you can stay in the right state of mind to hopefully have that come out on fight night. And that's cool.

Do you agree with Dana White where he says John Jones is the goat? I do. I mean, obviously, he had one loss, and it was a DQ with a 12 to 6 elbow, which they just got rid of. So I think they're going to make that a not a no contest, but I think they're going to flip it over.

Oh, wow. So they could flip that fight out. I believe. That's what people have said. And I'm just listening to the internet, which is always truthful. But I believe that's the case. But man I'm just listening to the internet. Yeah, which it was always which is always truthful But I believe that's the case. But man you look at his body of work. You look at the guys he has fought He's got to be the goat right and now any fought now

He's fighting what a lot of people consider the the goat and heavyweight which is steep in me Oh, it's so that's happening in Madison Square Garden here and you know, nine ten weeks November 16th It's going to be and it could be one of his last fights, if not his last fight. It could be John Jones' last fight, could be Stipe's last fight. And there's another title fight on the card. It's a huge, huge card, and it's the world's most iconic arena. It's Madison Square Garden. I fought there three times.

It is the loudest, most hostile place I have ever been in my entire life. Wow. It's so, so loud. I heard my coaches zero times. I heard zero instructions coming from my coaches. Maybe that's my fault. Maybe I was just trying to kill Gagey and trying to kill Poirier. And yeah, man, that fight is going to be huge.

John Jones. Yeah, do you think in a loud setting like that, you should have some headpiece or something and communicate with your coach? going to be huge. John Jones. Do you think in a loud setting like that, you should have some headpiece or something to communicate with your coach? That would be great. That would actually be really, really cool if you were able to put a little earpiece in, a hearing aid or whatever.

Because it is, and I guess obviously both guys are at a disadvantage if it's loud on one side of the arena, it's loud on the other side. It's just loud in there. But man, that would be cool because it's so hard to hear. You've got a guy in front of you who's constantly moving, who's not taking any steps back, and he's looking you in the eyes trying to kill you.

And you're always in danger. You're always in a dangerous situation. So having your ears open to try to hear your coaches is no easy task. That's fascinating. So you're just relying purely on instinct at that point. Yeah, I mean, when you're not hearing your coaches, you're basically just out there.

You're fighting for your life. And there's times where you could probably pause and take a step back. And truthfully, I think that's why people love watching me fight. I don't think that there's really, there's no foot on the brakes at all. There's not a brake pedal in sight.

It's just all gas all the time, constantly coming forward. I'm not afraid to go out there and die on my shield, right? Live by the sword, die by the sword, make it exciting, keep you on the edge of your seats. That's why people buy my pay-per-views. It's a lot of fun, and it's a huge blessing. Absolutely. I have great coaches, and they have really great coaching.

So I should probably try to listen to them more. Who's the goat for your weight class, and do you think you could catch him one day? Oh, man, that's so tough, right? Because you got Khabib. Khabib was undefeated. I would say accolades-wise, yeah, you got to go with Khabib. But my personal preference, a guy

who I have a personal relationship with is Frankie Edgar. He had losses. He won the title, lost the title. So he doesn't have the accolades and the record of a guy like Khabib. But when it comes to like, hey, if I'm voting with my heart, it's Frankie Edgar. Undersized kid from, he was a wrestler

from Tom's River, New Jersey. Had some of the best fights I'd ever seen. He was a guy when I got into the sport, I wanted to emulate him and be just like him. I went up and like, hey, if you said there's one guy you can fight like, it's Frankie Edgar. But when it comes to accolades, you got to look at Khabib. Obviously, his fellow countryman and brother Islam

Mahachev, who is our current champion right now, he's got to be right behind him. But if I'm voting with my head, it's Khabib. If I'm voting with my heart, it's Frankie Edgar. I feel that. Yeah, Islam's undefeated too, right? He's got one loss. Oh, he's got one loss. If I'm voting with my heart, it's Frank Yagyar. I feel that. Yeah, Islam's undefeated too, right? He's got one loss. Oh, he's got one loss.

He's got one loss, but he's now beaten who? Charles Oliveira, Gagey, Poirier, man. He's beaten. Convincingly too. Convincingly, like finishing guys, right? So it's everybody, that's the one thing about Khabib, never having a loss. It's hard to go through a career and not have a loss.

It's hard to go through a career like John Jones and not have losses, multiple losses. It's just you do all this training and you got this fight for 15 or 25 minutes and you're locked into a cage with another highly skilled, highly motivated, highly talented individual. And the chances of you losing is so high. So to be able to do it undefeated is pretty crazy. Super impressive.

Like even Islam, Islam's one loss was, I think he got knocked out, like it was a TKO. Oh wow. We're going to get caught, man. You got a chin, and you got a button, and I got a chin, and I got a button, and we're throwing punches and kicks and knees and elbows, man. It's only a matter of time before you get caught. Absolutely.

Are there any losses that you still think about? I don't want to sit here and act like I haven't had my moments where I had some regrets or I wish I would have done this or fought this way. I'm a guy who's never looked back and said, hey, I want that one back. I want to fight that guy again to right that wrong. You know, I got three losses in the UFC. I have no wanting or no desire to fight Porrie, G, or Oliveira again because I want to right the wrong. I would love to compete against those guys again

just because I believe I win a rematch. But man, I would take the, I would go back and look at the Poirier fight, my last fight, I think I had a momentary lapse of judgment. You were winning, right? You were winning that fight? I think I was up two rounds to none on most people's scorecards.

And yeah, that's a. So all it takes in fighting is just one little mishap, one mistake. Yeah, and it's interesting too, right? In other sports, there's a few things that could go wrong. But in mixed martial arts, there's so many things that can go wrong at any given moment. And it's a game of millimeters.

Wow. But I think that's part of it, man. I think you can't accept and love and desire the good things about the sport, the spoils and the platform and what we get to do without also being grateful for the fact that, hey, man, there's so much danger going on and you could lose at any moment. You can't take the good without also accepting the bad.

So I think I've always just enjoyed the fact that, man, I love that I get to go do something that people watch. And they're so nervous. They are on the edge of their seat, whether it's because they bet money on me or whether it's because they have a personal relationship with me or they're just a fan. But we all brave the unknown, and we're tied onto a tornado.

And that's why people love the sport of mixed martial arts. It's so easy to lose. It's so easy to lose. It's so easy to, even if you're a 1001 favorite or 1001 underdog, anybody can win when that cage door closes. Absolutely. Would you ever do power slap? I would not. I would not do power slap.

Obviously, I've been to, have you been to? Yeah, I've been. I got nervous, dude. Yeah, I mean, it's different, right? You're just watching it, and you're like, man, this guy, this guy is defenseless. You know, it's like, in fighting, it's obviously if I see the punch coming, I can at least

duck, dive, dodge, whatever it is, you know, with a dodgeball. But yeah, man, having your hands behind your back and just gritting your teeth and hopefully closing your eyes and taking a slap is a tough thing to do. But it's fun to watch. But it's fun to watch. It's very fun to watch. If you haven't been to a power slap fight or a power slap match, it's an interesting time.

Absolutely. So I saw on your Wikipedia, this impressed me about you. You were on honor roll every term. Yeah, I don't know if I'm necessarily the smartest guy, but I just knew it wasn't that hard to get good grades. I mean, I went to public school in high rage, Missouri. There was a lot of other kids getting A's and B's. Why couldn't I get A's and B's?

Right. And then in college, I think it was just I just thought it was it was just disrespectful to me being on the team and being a leader on the team to not have good grades and not show up to class. So I just I'm just a guy who likes to try to do things right. Yeah. And obviously, you know, there's different intelligence levels and there's different, you know, some people are good at math,

some people are good at arts, some people are good at literature, whatever it is, and we all have our strengths and weaknesses like we talked about earlier. But I just thought, man, I know I can get A's and B's. If I don't, it's just laziness. So I don't want to ever exude laziness in any area of my life. That interested me because there's a stigma with fighters that they're, and boxers, that they're not the smartest,

you know what I mean? But you broke that mold. Yeah, I mean, I think you get what you put into this life, in every area, you know? And we can sit back and act, and definitely bad luck befalls us in bad circumstances, or someone can screw you over, and someone can take advantage of you.

All of those things happen. And a lot of times in life, you can't make those things, you can't stop those things from happening. We all are gonna fall on bad times. But for the most part, if you do the right thing, if you put a little extra effort in, if you do what you need to do and not what you want to do, you're ultimately going to get good outcomes.

So that was the way I saw it. I was like, I don't know if I have smarts. I don't know if I have that much intelligence or that much IQ, but I know I can work hard. I know I can do the things that are asked of me and do more than was asked of me, study a little bit hard and probably get pretty good grades. If your two kids went up to you and said

they wanted to become fighters, what would your reaction be? It's a good question. I would definitely support it. I'm definitely not pushing him into it. You know, I got, you know, I'm looked at, I'm around little league guys all the time, right? We're on football teams, we're on baseball teams,

we're on basketball teams, we're on soccer teams, and I'm around the dads all the time. I'm like, hey man, so your kid doing Jiu Jitsu, is he doing, you know, and I own a gym here in town called Nashville MMA. So we have the mat space, we got the coaches, we got great programs. But for me, knowing that the sport of wrestling

was too hard for me when I was at that age, and I'm not condoning, or I'm not saying that anybody who is starting with their kid wrestling at five is a bad thing, but I just know it was tough for me. So I would love for my kids to play all the team sports, learn how to move their body, learn how to play sports, learn how to get more athletic as they're growing and maturing. But it's definitely gonna be something that I wanna get my sons into if they

want to, if they desire, and maybe they don't. It's hard being a coach's kid, right? Right. It's hard being, it's tough. You watch Right. It's hard being a, you know, it's tough. You watch kids on these teams and like their dad's the coach. That kid, whether it's they hold themselves to too much of a higher standard, or they got too much pressure on them,

or maybe the dad and their relationship is a little bit, you know, there's pressure added to it because he's coaching other kids, but also he's their kid. You see it. I'm on YouTube, and I'm fighting on pay-per-view and everybody knows who I am because of hand-to-hand combat. So I don't want my sons to feel, the first time my kids step on the mat,

they're gonna be looked at differently than everyone else. Oh, that's Michael Chandler's kid. The expectations, right? And so if all of a sudden they come to me and say, hey, my buddy George or my buddy Rhett, hey, they wanna start BJJ, can I do it? Absolutely, bud, hey, my buddy George or my buddy Rhett, hey, they want to start BJJ. Can I do it? Absolutely, bud.

Let's do it. But I'm not going to be like, hey, dude, let's start learning BJJ now. Right. So you didn't like wrestling when you were super young? Well, I started when I was five, and I quit by the time I was eight. Well, it was just too hard.

It was me out there in this little singlet wearing a headgear. For me, it was too much pressure for a little kid who was supposed to be enjoying sports. To me I just want my sons to enjoy sports. Whether it's sticks, whether it's balls, whether it's soccer, basketball, football, you win as a team, you lose as a team, it's not all on you. And my son is hard on himself. He lost his baseball game last night and he's like, we're the worst team ever. And I struck out and I'm the worst. And it's like, I love that he cares, but also he can't take the full responsibility for that

because there was a bunch of errors and that the other team was good and it wasn't just him losing. So I lost to a girl when I was like seven or eight years old. And that's when I was like, dude, that's tough for a little kid, dude. It's tough for a little boy who's lost to a girl, man. How do you hold your head up high and go back, go into school the next day after you lose to a girl, right? Nothing against girls, but it's tough, right? For a young kid like that.

So I started back up as a freshman and I've been in love with hand-to-hand combat ever since. I dedicated my life to it at 14 years old under Ron and Bob Wilhelm at Northwest High School. And then I wrestled in college and then now I've been fighting for 16 years. Love it, man. How tough are these women in the UFC?

Could they take on just a regular dude? Yeah, I think- They would destroy them. Well, I think they, obviously depending on size, you know? Like I think one of my favorite female fighters right now is Weili, the 125 champion, but she weighs 130 pounds. She's tiny, she's like five foot one. So size makes a big difference, obviously.

But man, you look at some of these girls like pound for pound, like same size. They got skills. They're tough. They've been hit before. A lot of people are tough guys, but have never been hit. They don't know how they realize that they would either tuck their tail between their legs or it would turn into a fight or flight situation. Right.

So yeah, they're tough. Were you scrappy at a young age? Were you getting a lot of fights? I wasn't. So that's a very interesting fact about me. And everybody's got their different road, like why they fight. I had never been in a street fight.

Oh, wow. A lot of fights in the wrestling room, whether it be, hey, I'm clubbing you and I'm not really actually punching you, but this is escalating and coach breaks us up, or actually got into a couple fights on the mats in college wrestling. But no, man, I was always too afraid to get into trouble.

I really was. Ever since a young age, I was like, man, fighting would be really cool, but I'd rather just tuck my tail between my legs and defuse the situation, because I don't wanna get written up, get in school suspension, out of school suspension, be known as that guy. And now I get paid for it.

So it's kind of nice. Yeah. Were your parents superstrict? They were, they were good. They were tough love. We didn't have a ton of structure in the house. I mean, my mom and dad worked two and three jobs. My dad was a union carpenter and he would do side jobs

on the weekends. My mom would be up early. My dad would be up early, go to work, my mom would be up early, get the boys to school, then she would work all day till five and then work at my grandpa's restaurant from like six to midnight. So it was like, they were constantly working. So they were, it wasn't because we didn't have a lot of structure, not because they didn't want to give us structure. They were just constantly grinding to keep food on the table. So our, me and my brothers got got to do whatever we wanted a lot of times, man. But you're young kids, you're not really going to get in that much trouble.

We ran around in the woods, fell out of trees, built things, blew things up, killed animals, went hunting. I guess that's what we did. Do you think a big part of the reason you wanted to be successful was seeing the way your mothers were or your parents were kind of struggling? Yeah, I do. I mean, I wanted to transcend that. But everybody always talks about how hard I work

and the discipline I have and the faith in myself and the faith in the process and all these things. But I'm just a byproduct of Mike and Betty Chandler, man. And they worked so hard. And they never complained. They never made excuses. They never talked about their deficiencies. They're just like, yeah, yeah, we might complain a little bit

about how tough things were, but they just kept on going. Every single day, my dad woke up at 5 a.m. Every single day my mom was up getting the boys ready, getting us ready for school, making sure we had breakfast, making sure we were gonna be on the bus on time. And man, I always feel like I'm nothing compared to them when it comes to work ethic, when it comes to discipline, when it comes to what they try to create inside of me.

And they did a dang good job raising me and my two brothers. And I think I'm just a byproduct of that. That's how I feel with my parents, man. It's all perspective too. Because as a kid, I used to complain a lot and have victim mentality. And then I see what my dad goes through. He's 6'5", 97 pounds, super underfed on a farm,

working 12 hours a day. Mom came here from China with 20 bucks in her pocket, didn't speak English. And I'm complaining about living in a middle class family. Yeah, man, it's crazy. And you also get that perspective too, where obviously we have our gripes about our parents. Dad was not a good dad because of this, this and this.

And mom wasn't a good mom because of this, this and this. And they taught us this and they should have taught us this. And you kind of go through that where you, for me, it was when I went to college and I started seeing all these other people from all walks of life and you get opened up to all these different things. You're like, oh man, I wish I was raised like that

or I wish my dad was more like that or mom was more like that. But then a couple years later, you have your own kids and you realize, dude, I am failing every single day. Being a dad and my wife being a mom, it's the hardest thing you'll ever have to do and I have to have a career and provide for the family. And I have all the normal things that we all

have to go through, right? It's like, as a kid, you're just naive. You don't know what you don't know. And then you get a little bit older, you're like, man, I had awesome parents. They were so, so good. And yeah, they weren't perfect. But I know I'm not perfect.

So if I'm judging them by perfection, it's an unwinnable battle. Unwinnable. You can't compare people to perfection. No, man. And also, just for me, just realizing that I am just a work in progress, trying to be better every day.

As long as I care about my children, and I love them, and I'm trying my best, that's the best you can do. Because I've laid my head on the pillow at night and just shamed myself for the thing I said, or the thing I didn't do or the thing that I missed or, you know, and that's a tough battle too because as long as you give them safety, security

and they know that you love them and they know you're trying the best and you're able to admit as men, a lot of times we have trouble admitting that when we're wrong or saying sorry to our children. I mean, just the other day all the time, I'm telling my son, hey, just so you know, like, I think I made a mistake here

and I'm just trying to figure this thing out, too. Wow, you said that to your five-year-old son? Yeah, my seven-year-old. Oh, seven-year-old. Because I think it's an, I want him to have that perspective that, hey, just because he's an authority figure, and just because he's my dad, and just because he's Superman, doesn't mean

that he knows exactly how to do it. It's like, hey, buddy, I wish I had a playbook that I could go to and say, OK, well, this is the scenario. Let me figure exactly out how to figure this out We just fail all the time I love that because as kids you see your parents is like such a high level and they're always Right. Yeah, but it shouldn't be like that, right? No, no, definitely not and it's and I think it takes the pressure off of us as parents and it also takes the pressure off the Off the children and yeah, they could maybe use it against us You know, I guess the fear would be like well he's going to use it against us and he's

going to look at me less your kids are never going to look at you less ever ever ever we were kids playing cowboys and indians and gi joes and superheroes and power rangers and all this stuff all we wanted to do was be a superhero all I wanted to do was be the coolest dude the hero of the story and I am that to ha Hap Chandler and Ace Chandler. And I think by admitting to them that I'm just trying to figure this thing out, and I am going to make mistakes, and I'm going to do things that I wish I wouldn't have done or not do things that I wish I would have done,

I think it unlocks something. It unlocks a love and a trust that is teaching them subconsciously what a man is. And like I said, I don't know if I'm doing it right, but I'm trying my best. That's life, man. Do you let them come to the fights or are you kind of worried about them seeing it?

So my son Hap has been to a fight. He was actually at the fight. I knocked out Tony Ferguson. Oh, nice. He came into the cage with me. So that was awesome. My last fight they did not go to. This fight they were going to go to,

I was gonna have Hap there for sure to fight Connor, but obviously that fell through. But I think Hap will come to the next one. I think Ace might even come to the city that it's at. I just don't know if we're gonna actually bring him to the fight, mainly because it's gonna be midnight. You know, so it'll be late. That's late for them.

How's your mental health been throughout this journey, the 16 year fight career? It's been good. You know, I think I took some losses that I needed to take to really take ownership of my mind. I think, you know, I, I've, I vastly underperformed in wrestling. I self-sabotage myself. I didn't believe in myself enough.

I had a small view of myself. So it held me back. So whenever I took those took those singlet straps off for the last time, I vowed to myself, hey, when I get into the sport of mixed martial arts, I'm not gonna self-sabotage anymore. I'm going to move forward like a champion. And I did that.

I did that for nine, 10, actually it was 12 fights. It was 12 and 0. I was working on everything physically, but I wasn't really working on my mindset. I lost that first fight. I lost my first fight to Eddie Alvarez. And then I lost three fights in a row. Well, it's 688 days without winning a fight because I was not prepared to lose. I don't think we should focus on losing. I don't think we should really acknowledge the fact, you know, you should acknowledge the fact

that losses are going to happen in life, but don't focus on them so much that they become self-fulfilling prophecies, but you must be prepared to lose if it does come. And I was not ready. I lost that first fight. I immediately forgot how good I was. I immediately started blaming other people. I immediately started put myself in this jail cell of self-pity and started just looking

at the world differently and starting to believe, you know, all the naysayers. And I hid. I hid from everybody. The fight was up for fight of the year. I didn't want to go accept the award. I didn't want to do any interviews. I didn't want to go out there.

And that was when I really started this mental health journey of realizing that you are what you are and where you are because of what has gone inside of your ears, in between your ears. And I can do all the pushups and do all the reps and do all the sparring things, but all I'm doing is building up a bigger, faster, stronger subpar version of the man that I was created to be if I'm not truly believing it in my mind.

So I've kind of fixed all that. And I've been on a constant quest of mindset training every single day since then. And, you know And I believe that this sport, yeah, it's physical. And you see it all play out inside the cage. But it's really what the fighter is thinking and the view that he has of himself that carries him into getting his hand raised or losing, because a man or a woman can't consistently

perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way that they see themselves. So if you don't see yourself as a champion, you're probably not gonna get there. Or maybe you do get there once and then it's, and very quickly fall because you didn't truly believe it. Right, that's so interesting, man, cause you see fighters when they lose once

and they never look the same after. Yeah, it's tough, right? I mean, I, and I did that. The biggest thing for me was the, the embarrassment and the hiding, right? I make it a point every single time. So there's some good friends of mine, Taylor LaWann and Will Compton, they have Bustin' with the Boys here in Nashville. Monday after my fights, no matter what, that's probably where I'm going

because whether I win or I lose, I'm showing up on that bus because we can either celebrate the win or I can sit there with blood coming down my face, and a black eye, and my nose is all stuffed up from getting punched in it and traveling. And I can sit there and we can talk about the loss. And yeah, it's to show people how to overcome loss. And yeah, it's to be on a cool platform.

And yeah, it's to go out there and do something that a lot of people don't do. But it's very go out there and do something that a lot of people don't do, but it's very selfish too. It's me unlocking and taking away the power of that loss. Because you go home and you lock yourself in your house and you don't take the phone calls and you don't hang out with friends and you just sit there and sit there

in that jail cell of self-pity. It's only going to just continue to deteriorate you as a human being. So I go out there right away and I wear it on my sleeve and say, yeah, this is what happened. And this is how it went. Yeah, this is what I'm feeling. Yeah, I cried.

Yeah, I'm in pain. Yeah, this is, and just talk about it. Cause when you acknowledge it, it takes away all the power. You know, and that's, I've made that a tradition every single fight. Whether it's busting with the boys or it's something else. I'm doing interviews because, and it's really selfish. It's for me to go and unlock and take the power

away from that loss so I can just move past it. Yeah, you own it. And these days it's even tougher for athletes because of social media. So you're seeing clips of yourself getting knocked out on Twitter when you log in. Gosh, man. Yeah, it's tough.

I mean, the social media is a tough thing to get on because it's just your fights constantly being talked about. And that's one of those beautiful slash painful things about the sport, right? You go out there and you get the win, or my fight with Tony Ferguson, man, that kick, it made SportsCenter top 10. And it was all over the world.

It went absolutely viral. So it's very easy for me to sit there and be like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Stroke your ego a little bit. Oh, the Rock posted a video playing this guy. Oh my gosh, Mark Wahlberg said that. And you're like, oh man, this is awesome. But on the flip side of that coin,

you can't enjoy all of that without also realizing that, man, people are going to talk about your loss too. And every single time you see it, it's going to be painful. But it's also just, if you're going to fail, fail while daring greatly. And I would much rather be the man in the arena taking chances, throwing myself into the fire, putting myself out there,

than living a life of mediocrity, of chosen mediocrity. We can all choose whether we want to just do nothing and not pour into our gifts and not take chances. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just you also can't expect your soul to continue to blossom into the man or woman you're supposed to be. I want to end off with Gary Brekka and 10X Health.

Yes. How much that has impacted your life? It is awesome, man. This last camp, as I said, was the best camp of my life, and I think it had a lot to do with me doing the superhuman protocol the entire time. I took my genetic test. I, every single day, it was another thing that I could check off, like check the box off the list of,

I did something extra today that I know not a lot of guys are doing, if any of them are doing. So I would do the 10X Pro Plunge, Cold Plunge, hop on the EWAT, the bike, do 15 minutes of the Pimp Mat and the Red Light Bed. Man, just obviously, I train hard. We've talked about this. I do the right things.

I eat correctly. I live a champion lifestyle. But a lot of guys do that. My next opponent, whoever it is, he's doing that. It's about getting that 1% little extra edge, right? And adding the oxygen and the red light and the pimp, I mean, it's taken my game to a whole other level. The mental clarity that I have, the energy that I have, then the recovery.

At 38 years old, man, I was just with a couple fighters who I won't name, but they're my age. And they're like, dude, so you're telling me right now you can get down on your knees and you can wrestle without knee pads and you can do this and you can, I'm like, yeah. And he's like, dude, no, I do a wrestling practice and I can't walk for like a week.

And I'm like, oh man, that's tough. You know, and some of it is the wear and tear of our bodies and the profession that we chose. But a lot of it has to do with the fact that I believe I've got these two arms and these two legs and this body to be able to squeeze every ounce of talent out of it while I can. And 10X has been a huge cornerstone.

Love them, man. You'll be fighting in your 40s, I think. I could if I wanted to. It's debatable whether I would want to. I mean, at some point, you've got to realize that, because the checks are going to keep getting bigger, and the lights are going to keep getting brighter. But at some point, the most important thing

that I will ever be in in my entire life is dad and husband. And fighting in a cage is really, really cool. And Madison Square Garden, pay-per-view and all these things. But man, being able to play baseball in the front yard with my son is even more important. Wow. So I think I could physically.

I could fight into my 40s, well into my 40s. But I'll hang it up before then. So you're thinking about retirement? I mean, I'm definitely not thinking about retirement at this juncture right now. I think I've got five hard, good hard good awesome massive fights. Okay for sure But you know, you talk about fighting well into your 40s. You're talking about like 10 more fights. That's true I don't think I have that many

I love that man. I love the honesty Michael closing messages anything you wanna close off with her? Um, no, man thank you for the opportunity in the platform and and I Just believe we were created for so much more than we could think or imagine. And I'm living proof of that. I was a small guy from a small town who was taught to do small things. And somehow I ended up on this huge platform and this huge stage and this huge life that I'm living. And it's just a testament to if you keep on going,

you do the right thing and you operate with integrity, anything is possible. So you guys keep doing that. You just inspired millions of people. Thanks for coming on, man. Of course, man. Thank you. Thanks for watching, guys. See you next time.