JRE MMA Show #25 with Michael Chandler

Joe Rogan (0:03)

Four, three, two, boom, and we're live. How are you, brother?

Michael Chandler (0:09)

I'm great, man.

Joe Rogan (0:10)

Great to have you in here, man.

Michael Chandler (0:11)

Thank you.

Joe Rogan (0:12)

Great to be here. Yeah, I've been wanting to have you on for a long time, man. I've been following your career forever, and I've been a big fan forever, so it's nice to be able to sit down with you.

Michael Chandler (0:21)

I know, man, this is awesome.

I've been a big fan of yours, obviously, and the podcast for a long time. So to be in here, get the tour, check out your awesome man warehouse. I think every man's dream.

Joe Rogan (0:31)

This is an elaborate plot to convince me to get you to join the UFC. That's all this is.

Michael Chandler (0:35)

Oh my gosh, right away? Right away? We want to go straight to it?

Joe Rogan (0:39)

Well, I just, I mean...

Michael Chandler (0:41)

All of this could be yours.

Joe Rogan (0:42)

I appreciate Rory McDonald going over there. I know he did what he had to do, but even that one bums me out, you know?

Michael Chandler (0:48)

Right, yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:49)

I just, I want to see you fight the best guys in the world, and I think right now over in Bellator, you have very good competition, but I don't think you have the best guys, and I think you're one of the best guys.

Michael Chandler (1:01)

I think I wake up every morning and think I'm the best guy in the world, too, you know?

Joe Rogan (1:04)

I think that's the way to think if you want to be the best guy in the world.

Michael Chandler (1:07)

That's the way I've been thinking for a while, and not always in my career. I mean, I've had some losses where I've, you know, had temporary lapses of confidence and whatnot, whether it be my training or my abilities in myself or my thoughts on my abilities myself, but I mean, where I'm at right now, firing on all cylinders, I feel like everything's working, so.

Joe Rogan (1:24)

Do you feel like those moments where you haven't been at your best, where you've had lapses, and then you felt those dark moments, do those motivate you to never let that happen again?

Michael Chandler (1:36)

Yeah, I mean, I think I actually went through, for those of the people that don't know, I went through three losses in a row. I mean, that's rough. I mean, the first loss to Eddie Alvarez was a tough split decision. A lot of people thought I won.

So you kind of get this, you know, oh, woe is me attitude, which I never had really had before. And all of a sudden it's like, why did this happen to me? I then had a back injury and then fought Will Brooks when I shouldn't have on one week, basically one week of training, which led to another loss, which led to another lack of confidence, and then another loss. So I went through that tough, dark time, you know, and I think there were certain aspects of it, it was me taking the support for granted, it was me taking my abilities for granted, and also just not taking extreme ownership of my mental state. Like realizing that I might be the hardest worker in the gym. I am the hardest worker in the gym. At every gym I go to, I'm the hardest worker. I live life right, I do the right things.

But if you're not constantly taking extreme ownership of your mental state, of your confidence, your self image, I think a healthy self image is the most important component of being successful in life. And I just, I wasn't taking care of that aspect of my life.

Joe Rogan (2:42)

So you were doing all the right things physically, but you weren't doing what you needed to do mentally?

Michael Chandler (2:47)

Yeah, I mean, I think I had never visualized until after that.

I mean, honestly, I come from a hard working background. My mom and dad both worked two jobs. My dad was a union carpenter, woke up at five in the morning, every single morning, pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Mom, the same way, working two, three jobs, both of them to make sure that me and my brothers had every single advantage in life, whether it be wrestling camps, football camps, this, that, the other thing. But we weren't exactly taught that, hey, you can go out in the world and do great things. You can go out and you can be not just good, but great and be a champion. And I think I went into college wrestling and I might have told the coaches I wanted to be a national champion. I might have told the reporters, all the people that I was supposed to, that I wanted to be a national champion. But in my heart of hearts, I didn't truly believe it. And I think, and I was, I mean, you asked Tyron, you asked Ben, those guys took me under their wing because I was the hardest worker in the room. And they said, man, this guy could be good, but I didn't exactly believe in myself.