"He took the hit the entire time" - Michael Chandler lauds Dana White for being a 'good leader' through the turmoil preceding UFC 279

UFC lightweight Michael Chandler has credited UFC President Dana White for the way that he handled UFC 279. The UFC was forced to cancel the press conference for the event following a backstage brawl involving Nate Diaz, Khamzat Chimaev, and Kevin Holland. The problem would only grow as Chimaev missed weight, leading to a reshuffling of the main card.

Michael Chandler, who will face Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 in November, applauded White for being able to pull off the card as well as not blaming the fighters for the brawl. Speaking with Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, the No.5-ranked lightweight stated (starting at the 1:18:05 mark):

Everybody wants to talk about the big, bad UFC and the big, bad Dana White. You do things right, you show up, you exceed expectations, you will be taken care of. I don't think there was anybody on the planet that envied Dana White, Hunter Campbell, Sean Shelby, Mick Maynard that night when they were trying to figure out what the heck they were going to do to salvage a card that literally got a grenade thrown in the middle of it. It's those moments why they are where they are and they pulled through and they did some shifting around and we got a good card out of it.

Chandler continued to heap praise on White by adding:

I'm going to get called a brown noser and a boot licker for this, but I watched the media scrum. Dana White - not one time did he say 'these guys are idiots, they're off the rocker, I can't control these guys, they're dummies, they're fighters, what do you expect when fighters get in a room?' He took the hit the entire time. 'We didn't have enough security, we didn't have enough people there, we were not prepared. We, we, we fell short' and that's what a good leader does.

Watch Michael Chandler's full appearance on The MMA Hour below:

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Michael Chandler believes he is in the front-running for a fight with Conor McGregor

Michael Chandler is set to take on Dustin Poirier at UFC 281, however, there is another fight that could be on his radar. Following his UFC 274 post-fight call-out of Conor McGregor, Chandler believes that he is one of the top options for McGregor's return fight, telling Ariel Helwani:

I think I'm one of the guys who's in the front running for that fight because it would be such a big, exciting fight.

Although McGregor has been inactive, he remains the biggest draw in mixed martial arts. While he has been 1-3 in the past six years, fighters know that he represents their best chance at a big payday due to his popularity.

Revisit Michael Chandler's call-out of Conor McGregor below: