Dustin Poirier has cautioned longtime rival Michael Chandler against his move to the UFC welterweight division, advising him to hang up the gloves. <\/p>\n
Michael Chandler has been given some cautionary advice from his former UFC<\/a> opponent, ex-interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The Diamond” is of the view that Chandler ought to hang up his MMA gloves. Additionally, Poirier warned him against moving from the lightweight (155-pound) to the welterweight (170-pound) division.\u00a0<\/p>\n Michael Chandler vs. Dustin Poirier — an MMA feud that escalated after their UFC fight<\/p>\n The competitive rivalry between Michael Chandler<\/a> and Dustin Poirier culminated in a professional mixed martial arts bout within the confines of the UFC’s famed octagon at UFC 281 back in November of 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n The back-and-forth fight ended with Poirier latching on to a rear-naked choke and beating Chandler via submission in their lightweight showdown’s third round. Their feud escalated thereafter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Poirier later accused Chandler of being a “dirty” fighter. He alleged that “Iron” utilized fish-hooking to control his mouth and thereby his head, intentionally directed blood and mucus at him, and resorted to other underhanded tactics to tilt the fight in his favor.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two fighters traded barbs over the years, with Poirier particularly lambasting Chandler on several occasions.<\/p>\n Regardless, Poirier ultimately retired from MMA last year after being outpointed in his trilogy fight against Max Holloway<\/a>, in what was a lightweight clash for the BMF title. The Poirier-Chandler feud faded away, as the Louisianian made peace with some of his former rivals (including Chandler) after retiring.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dustin Poirier asks Michael Chandler to retire from MMA, views potential welterweight division venture as a mistake for “Iron”<\/p>\n Michael Chandler’s loss against Dustin Poirier back in 2022 marked the beginning of his four-fight losing streak, something he hasn’t been able to break to this day.\u00a0<\/p>\n That defeat was followed by Chandler losing in a rematch against Charles Oliveira by unanimous decision in 2024. The former three-time Bellator lightweight champion then fell to Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett via third-round TKO last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chandler’s most recent octagon outing saw him drop his fourth consecutive fight, as he suffered a first-round TKO loss against Mauricio Ruffy at UFC Freedom 250 last month.<\/p>\n The 40-year-old subsequently teased that he could move up to welterweight next, with many fans noting that it could be his attempt to get his career back on track with a fresh start. The Missouri-born athlete has previously fought at welterweight, but he’s primarily known for having achieved success at lightweight.\u00a0<\/p>\n Well, some even speculated that it could set up his long-awaited fight against UFC icon Conor McGregor, but the Irishman’s UFC 329 injury<\/a> poured cold water on that hypothesis for the time being.\u00a0<\/p>\n During a recent edition of the Deep<\/a> Waters podcast on UFC on Paramount, Dustin Poirier was accompanied by former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, the inaugural UFC BMF champion Jorge Masvidal, and UFC fighter-turned-coach Din Thomas.\u00a0<\/p>\n