The Bellator lightweight title is no longer vacant as Michael Chandler became a two-time Bellator champion last night in St. Louis at Bellator 157: Dynamite 2 with a devastating knockout against Patricky “Pitbull” Freire.
Chandler (15-3) landed a right hand directly on the chin of Pitbull and referee John McCarthy immediately stopped the fight when Pitbull fell to the mat. The victory over Pitbull marked the third straight win for Chandler and he joins Eddie Alvarez as the only two-time Bellator lightweight champions in the history of the promotion.
Following his victory on Friday night, Chandler was a guest on “Inside MMA” on AXS TV and explained why Neil Melanson’s grappling system works so well for him.
“The great thing about Neil Melanson’s grappling system, it’s a little bit anti jiu-jitsu,” Chandler stated on Inside MMA. “It’s a lot more wrestling. It’s a lot of top game stuff. It’s a lot of just wrestling. Some of the things that Neil shows me, I say ‘holy cow, my coach showed me that in college.’ That ride or that pin or that tactic. Grabbing the wrist here. Being on top and finding a position to punch. It’s so similar to wrestling and it’s such a dominate, dominate system and it just works well for me. This is my seventh KO I believe and I have also had six submissions. And every single one of those submissions was Neil Melanson’s ground grappling. It’s a lot of that catch wrestling, submission grappling stuff. Top game stuff.”
Check out Chandler’s complete interview from “Inside MMA” on AXS TV below.