Former two-time rival who also fought Conor McGregor hopes Michael Chandler gets cut from UFC: "It’s very frustrating for me to watch"

A fighter who has shared the cage with both Michael Chandler and Conor McGregor recently expressed the opinion that 'Iron' should be removed from the UFC roster. Chandler made his UFC debut with significant anticipation surrounding him and lived up to the hype with a spectacular first-round knockout of Dan Hooker at UFC 257 in January 2021.

However, following that win, the 38-year-old American secured just one victory in his next five octagon appearances. Despite this, he was part of some of the most thrilling fights in recent memory, including a failed attempt at the lightweight title against Charles Oliveira at UFC 262.

Eddie Alvarez, who faced Chandler twice during their Bellator MMA days, is puzzled as to why his former opponent has failed to leverage his complete arsenal in the UFC. Speaking to MMA Junkie, Alvarez expressed that 'Iron' has fallen short of his true potential:

"If you ask him, he’s underperformed. He’ll know the reason for that or whatever the reasons are, but for sure I think he has all the tools to win the UFC title. It’s a matter of whether he uses the tools he has, and I don’t think he has properly, and I don’t know why. It’s very frustrating for me to watch because I know what he’s capable of, and what kind of grit and champion spirit he has."

'The Underground King' further stated that if Chandler suffers another loss, the UFC should consider removing him from the roster:

"Let’s let him fight again, and if he’s on the same trajectory and he loses again, he can maybe get cut, and then just come over to Bare Knuckle and let’s do it with no gloves."

Check out Eddie Alvarez's comments below:

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When Eddie Alvarez reached out to Michael Chandler to approach promoters for their trilogy bout

Before joining the UFC, both Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez fought under the Bellator banner, where they each held the lightweight world championship. The two clashed twice in epic battles, swapping the title between them and each securing a victory.

During an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani in September 2022, Alvarez, who was a free agent at the time, shared that there was a period when both he and 'Iron' were out of contract with Bellator.

'The Underground King' revealed that he intended to pitch their trilogy fight to various promotions, but things didn’t play out as he had hoped:

"There's some really big fights that are possible for me. Nate [Diaz] just got free, I just got free. This rarely ever happens but it happened with me and Mike Chandler at a certain time. I called him and said, 'Hey man, don't go sign with anyone. Let's walk into an office together... That way we'd make a lot more money doing that'... He said it's a great idea but then I heard he re-signed with Bellator."

Check out Eddie Alvarez's comments below (9:48):