"An individual will never be able to outperform a poor self-image" - Michael Chandler gets deep about how he 'was taught to do small things' and how he overcame an early career plateau

Michael Chandler recently opened up about how he overcame an early plateau in his career as an athlete and shed light on his journey from a small town to MMA stardom. During an appearance on episode 190 of the PBD Podcast, Chandler revisited his days as a Division I All-American wrestler.

The 36-year-old noted that once he was done with his tenure as an amateur wrestler, he realized that he'd underperformed due to putting too much pressure on himself. Indicating that he eventually changed his self-image and started believing in himself, Chandler told host Patrick Bet-David:

"I was doing everything right physically. And I was building up this body, I was doing all the workouts, I was putting in all the reps. But what I was not doing was taking ownership and extreme ownership of my self-image because an individual will never be able to outperform a poor self-image."

Furthermore, Michael Chandler - who was born in High Ridge, Missouri, U.S.A. - highlighted that he was a small-town youth who wasn't taught to dream big:

"And that was the story of me - Because once again, as I alluded to in the very beginning, I was a small guy from a small town who was taught to do small things. And that's nothing against my upbringing, my town, the people that I was around."

'Iron' proceeded to note that he simply wasn't aware that he could venture outside his county lines and accomplish something great, even acknowledging that perhaps the small-town mindset wasn't taught to him but was inherent. Regardless, he eventually set forth on a quest for MMA glory and scaled great heights of success.

Watch Michael Chandler discuss the topic at 7:36 in the video below:

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Michael Bisping on the UFC lightweight title implications in Michael Chandler vs. Dustin Poirier

Chandler is set to face former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier in a pivotal lightweight clash at UFC 281 on November 12. During an episode of his podcast Believe You Me, UFC legend Michael Bisping addressed the Chandler-Poirier fight and its lightweight title implications.

He noted that both Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier fought for the lightweight belt in 2021 but came up short. However, he alluded to the possibility that the Chandler-Poirier winner may earn a title shot against the winner of the upcoming UFC lightweight title fight between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev:

"It's a good fight is what it is, it's a logical matchup... It's also one, I mean, who else is there, when Charles [Oliveira] and Islam [Makhachev] fight next month, who's next up [for a shot at the title]?"

Watch Bisping's assessment below: