Michael Chandler gets shoutout from Ric Flair after UFC 257 promo
Michael Chandler got a personal Zoom call from pro wrestling legend Ric Flair after making his Octagon debut at UFC 257.
Chandler couldn’t have looked better in his first UFC bout, knocking out Dan Hooker in the first-round to usurp the No. 4 spot in the promotion’s lightweight rankings.
While his victory over Hooker provided plenty of fodder for fight fans, his post-fight interview with Jon Anik also got people talking, as it borrowed significantly from Flair’s 1992 Royal Rumble promo.
Unsurprisingly, Flair caught wind of this tribute from Chandler, and ended up giving the mixed martial artist a call with a message of thanks and congratulations.
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“Just got a personal zoom call from Ric Flair to congratulate me on my win at UFC 257,” Chandler wrote on Instagram (h/t MMA Mania). “Living an actual dream. Thank y’all for being on this journey with me. Stay the course. Eventually all your hard work will pay off, you just still have to be standing there with arms wide open when it does. WOOOOOOOOOO!”
Flair also shouted Chandler out on social media:
https://twitter.com/RicFlairNatrBoy/status/1354810635888939019
Speaking at the conclusion of UFC 257, Chandler explained why he channeled Ric Flair in his post-fight interview, despite not being a big pro wrestling fan.
“I thought about it a couple of times,” Chandler said (via MMA Junkie). “The origination of that was actually (Daniel Cormier) and Ariel (Helwani) talking about why I was in the (EA Sports UFC) video game.
“Ariel said I shouldn’t have been in the video game (because) I hadn’t fought in the UFC yet, but DC was like, ‘Well, yeah. But he’s Ric Flair. He came over from WCW and he got the title shot right away,” Chandler added. “Everybody was mad, but he’s Ric Flair.’
“So it’s kinda funny. I’m actually not the biggest WWE/pro wrestling guy, but it was ‘the best day of my professional career.’ I didn’t do the whole ‘tear in my eye’ thing, though, I thought that was a little too over the top. And the callouts came after that.”
What do you think of the mutual admiration between Michael Chandler and Ric Flair?
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