"Not the wins, the belts, the checks" - Michael Chandler reveals what matters the most for him in his MMA career

Michael Chandler has suggested that the process, journey and pursuit of glory are the most important factors behind his mixed martial arts career.

Chandler, who came over to the UFC from Bellator last year, has had quite the start to his run with the promotion. After finishing Dan Hooker inside one round back in January, he went on to fight Charles Oliveira for the UFC lightweight title earlier this month.

UFC 262: Charles Oliveira v Michael Chandler

Chandler looks inside himself

'Iron' Mike went to war with 'Do Bronx' in the first round of their highly anticipated encounter, with many believing he came within just a few shots of capturing the belt.

Instead, Oliveira rallied and managed to finish Chandler with strikes early in the second round.

In a recent post on social media, Chandler seemed to be in a reflective mood as his MMA journey continues.

#mondaymotivation - What if the process, the journey, the pursuit really is the ultimate prize.-Not the wins, the belts, the checks? What if the person you are becoming through the process really is the ultimate goal.-See you at the top!-#mma #UFC pic.twitter.com/gSjtMRUjcW

— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) May 24, 2021

“#mondaymotivation - What if the process, the journey, the pursuit really is the ultimate prize. Not the wins, the belts, the checks? What if the person you are becoming through the process really is the ultimate goal. See you at the top! - #mma #UFC”

Nobody knows for sure what the next step is going to be for Michael Chandler but any match-up inside the top five, or even the top ten, would be absolutely incredible for him.

One name that has been floated around as of late is Justin Gaethje, who, as we all know, last fought in 2020 when he was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The real story here, though, is that Michael Chandler really has an interesting grasp of where he’s currently at in his career and in his life.

He knows he’s in the UFC for a good time, not a long time and he’s even said as much, with the end result being some unbelievably entertaining bouts for UFC fans to enjoy.

It really doesn’t get much better than that and we’re pretty intrigued to see whether or not he can fight his way back to a world title shot in the future - because at this point, you definitely can’t say it’s impossible.