Michael Chandler returned to the wrestling mats on Saturday night in the RAF 3 main event and turned back the clock with a near shutout performance over fellow UFC veteran Chad Mendes.<\/p>\n
While Mendes was the more accomplished wrestler during his collegiate career, Chandler thwarted him with size, power and speed during the three-period match.<\/p>\n
An early mistake from Mendes cost him when he had Chandler tied up and attempted to go for a roll but he slipped off. A split second later, Chandler reversed with a roll of his own to score two points and along with another point for passivity against Mendes, he went up 3-0 after the first period.<\/p>\n
From there, Chandler and Mendes continued to battle for position with the match being paused a couple of times due to an accidental eye poke and a couple of head butts. As a result, Mendes actually had some significant swelling around his eye but he continued.<\/p>\n
Late in the match, Chandler scored another point with a push out and that sealed the deal with the one-time UFC title challenger getting the win with a 4-1 final. It was an impressive showing for Chandler after he was an All-American at Missouri but beating Mendes wasn\u2019t enough because he made a surprising callout after his win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to say since 2009, there was a guy out there from the Midwest in the Big 12, who beat me a couple of times that I haven\u2019t been able to get him off my mind. Jordan Burroughs, this ain\u2019t 2009! I\u2019m bigger, I\u2019m faster, I\u2019m stronger, I\u2019m more dangerous! Jump in the RAF ring with me, if you dare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, Burroughs is an Olympic gold medalist and multi-time World Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest American wrestlers of all time. That would certainly be a tall task for Chandler but he obviously seems to think he can get the job done, although it\u2019s likely his attention now turns towards a potential fight against Conor McGregor in the UFC with the pair potentially meeting at the White House card in June.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere on the card, a pair of UFC fighters found out the tough way that going back to wrestling isn\u2019t as easy as it might look.<\/p>\n
Joaquin Buckley replaced PFL light heavyweight champion Corey Anderson on the card against Pat Downey but he didn\u2019t last long in the match. Downey hit a well-timed throw early to go up big on the UFC welterweight and then put the match away with a huge slam after the lifted Buckley into their and brought him crashing back down to the mat.<\/p>\n