Michael Bisping expects Dustin Poirier to test Michael Chandler’s chin at UFC 281.
Poirier (28-7 MMA, 20-6 UFC) faces Chandler (23-7 MMA, 2-2 UFC) on Saturday’s pay-per-view main card at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
Both Poirier and Chandler have engaged in their fair share of barnburners, but Bisping thinks they’ve taken a toll on Chandler more.
“Obviously (Poirier is) looking for the TKO, but Michael Chandler is very tough. However, he has been dropped,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “He got dropped off Tony Ferguson, he got dropped off Charles Oliveira. He has been shown to be a little bit chinny. Tony Ferguson is a great fighter, but I think the best days are probably behind him.”
He continued, “Dustin Poirier has shown time and time again that he can wear down great fighters like Conor McGregor, like Justin Gaethje, and he can put them away. If he could do that, I think he can put Michael Chandler away. I say Dustin Poirier gets a TKO in Round 3.”
Chandler possesses a decorated wrestling background but hasn’t often used it as of late. However, Bisping thinks he’ll need to vary his attack against Poirier, whom he sees as the superior striker.
“Dustin Poirier has the better boxing,” Bisping said. “He’s got the longer reach but only by one inch. When you see Michael Chandler, he’s a shorter guy, but he’s got a 71-inch reach. Dustin Poirier is 72, so not much of an advantage there. But I just think he puts together better combinations. Very, very fluid footwork. He likes to switch stances. He likes to glide in and out. …
“For Chandler, he’s got to mix in takedowns. He’s got to go from the boxing to the takedowns. Lots of level changes, lots of feints, lots of fakes. Use the hands, set up the level changes.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 281.
