The 10 best fighters to never fight in the UFC

#7 Michael Chandler

Michael Chandler has been at the top in Bellator for years

Undoubtedly, the biggest rival promotion to the UFC right now is Bellator MMA, and perhaps no other fighter is as closely associated with the Viacom-backed group as former Lightweight champion Michael Chandler. He’s been with Bellator since 2010 – the peak of the Bjorn Rebney era, years before they moved to Spike TV – and has fought 19 times under their banner, winning 15 of them.

A former NCAA Division 1 wrestler, Chandler is simply a fantastic fighter who, at 32, is probably just about in his prime years now. He began his Bellator career with nine straight wins, but of course, it was the 6th of those – his insane 2011 win over Eddie Alvarez – that really put him on the map as an elite fighter and someone to watch going forward.

Chandler won the Bellator Lightweight title in that fight and although he did eventually drop it back to Alvarez in a rematch, and then lost twice to Will Brooks in subsequent title fights, he’s since recovered massively, picking up wins over the likes of Patricky Freire and former UFC champion Benson Henderson, and in a few weeks he’ll be looking to recapture the title he lost in 2017 due to a leg injury.

The UFC could've signed Chandler this year – he was a free agent for a while but chose to re-up with Bellator, sticking with them for the foreseeable future – and as they didn’t manage to ink him, he remains probably the best 155lber to never set foot into the Octagon. How well he would do there is another matter, but it’s a pity we’re unlikely to find out.