Former Bellator MMA Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler and Goiti Yamauchi are set to battle this weekend at Bellator 192.
The stakes just got a lot higher for the fight -- Bellator MMA President Scott Coker says the winner faces lightweight champion Brent Primus next.
“We actually were talking to try and put that (Chandler) fight together,” Coker said on The MMA Hour. “My understanding is that Primus, he and his wife had a baby and that he wasn’t available for some amount of time and Michael wants to fight now so we put this fight (vs. Yamauchi) together and the winner will fight Primus in the next fight, which we’re going to try to make that happen in a short amount of time. It’s not going to be six-to-eight months down the road.”
Primus actually defeated Chandler to become the lightweight champion back at Bellator 180.
While Yamauchi may want to hold the gold, a former champion like Chandler has other important things he wants to focus on.
“I don’t need to have the belt around my waist. I walk into a room, (Primus) walks into a room — who do you think is getting the attention? If I walk into a room, he walks into a room with the belt over his shoulder, people would just be wondering, saying, ‘He’s just one of those fans who got one of those Bellator belts. Where’d you get that Bellator belt? Are you going to have Chandler sign it? That’s cool, man,’” Chandler said on a previous appearance on The MMA Hour.
Bellator 192 takes place on Saturday, January 20 from The Forum in Inglewood, California with Quinton Jackson and Chael Sonnen headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
