Our tale of the tape, for this hour main event
of the evening the unbeaten champion
one year older then the former two time champion. – He is you take
a look at that reach, 73" reach to 69 those
four inches can mean a lot to Brent Primus
in this fight. – Chandler, Primus,
wait is over, Michael C. Williams
official introductions. – Ladies and gentlemen
presented by Bellator and the USO the time has come
for the Salute the Troops main event of the evening,
five five minute rounds, for the Bellator Lightweight
World Championship. Sanctioned by the Hawaii
Mixed Martial Arts Program, executive officer
Alan Tomuguchi. Tonight's world title fight
brought to you by Miller Lite, great taste,
only 96 calories. And now live on
Paramount Network, we introduce the blue corner. At 5'8" weighing
in 153.9 pounds, the two time former Bellator
Lightweight World Champion, tonight brings 18 professional
victories, 4 defeats, from Nashville, Tennessee,
he fights out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the challenger,
'Iron' Michael Chandler.
And across the cage
the champion tonight fights out of the red
corner, at 5'10" weighing in 154.9 pounds, making the first
defense of his world title, he enters undefeated, eight
victories, no defeats, by way of Irvine,
California, he fights out of Portland Oregon, introducing
the defending Bellator Lightweight World
Champion, Brent Primus. And when the bell rings the
referee in charge of the action, Herb Dean. – The veteran Herb Dean. – All right gentlemen
we've been over the rules, protect yourself at all times, follow my instructions,
we're gonna keep it clean, touch gloves and let's do this. – I agree with
Herb, let's do this. I cannot wait for this fight. The champion is
Brent Primus, the challenger has held
the title twice, Michael Chandler. Here we go! A quick kick early from
Primus, tonight's fight clock, brought to you by
Miller Lite, great taste,
and only 96 calories.
Red gloves for Primus,
blue gloves for Chandler. – We always used
to say in a fight look, you need to take that
first hit, and right now I think Brent Primus needs
to take that first hit, he looks a little
tight, a little anxious, just settle down. – Throwing a lot
of his own kicks early. Chandler waiting for his
opportunity to explode. Primus, kick after kick.
Little slip and rip but he missed on the return. And he's looking
for that kick again. – He is you can
see what Michael Chandler is doing with his footwork,
watching as he's bouncing in and out he's making a very
nice, set down on that one, but he's making good little
adjustment on those kicks, and that's why you see a
lot Brent's kicks missing. – Going towards
that lower leg, Primus, 33 years old,
Chandler 32 years old.
23rd professional
fight for Chandler, this is the 9th
for Brent Primus. 90 seconds into the first
of a potential five- oh big left hand lands! Big left hand landed
but the right return by Primus. Chandler connected big time. – Both need to settle
down but I tell you what Michael absolutely hit Brett
harder than Brent was able to touch Michael, Brent is
still a little bit wobbly. – He's going
after the finish early. And he has Primus' attention. Again.
Chandler on top. – This is not a
bad thing for Brent Primus right now, he is
wobbly on his feet, he needs to just
settle down, control, bring those legs up high,
try to control the posture of Michael Chandler right now.
– Michael Chandler
number two with 15 career wins inside the
Bellator Cage, number one is Patricio Pitbull, the
two-time featherweight champion, with 16. – If Brent Primus
can control the posture like he's doing right now,
Michael Chandler all of that… get all that energy is gonna
settle down, what he got hurt by, is gonna come back to him,
but he just keeps on hooking his toes in that cage trying
to turn and create an angle. – Both men delivered shots,
early in the round, Chandler looking to
do some damage inside the guard of Primus here. – Well they've
both landed shots but it was absolutely, Chandler
landed the shot that hurt Primus the most. That was the most telling blow. And that is why
you're not seeing Brent Primus now on his back. – Primus trying
to control the posture of Iron Michael Chandler. Primus earned his Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu black belt in just six years, began
training at age 20, the Crazy Baha. – Herb Dean's gonna
have to do something about Brent Primus trying
to grab with his toes, he can put his foot on
that fencing material, and push off but he cannot
grab hold of it with his toes, to try to turn his position to
try control Michael Chandler.
– Mike trying
to break the will of Primus here early. – That's right in front
of us Mike and you can hear those are heavy shots
that Brent Primus is getting dealt by
Michael Chandler right now. – Another big elbow
from Michael Chandler. – This is saying
a lot because look, if Brent is gonna be on
his back this is the time if you wanna try to
go for a submission, is to start to go for it
before Michael Chandler is really sweaty and
really wet because it's gonna be hard
as the rounds go on. – Tenth time Chandler's
been scheduled for five, second time Primus has
been scheduled for five. The first one lasted 2:22. – Yeah he's never
been there and that is a big disadvantage. You never know for sure what
it's like until you do it. – If it gets that far. Big start for the
former champion. Final seconds of
round number one. (bell rings) – Do me a favor,
keep your toes out… – Goldie, here's that
right hand that misses, but watch the left hand, bing! Right on the chin, puts Primus down.
And then we had that exchange, and it was not
a punch by Primus. It was almost
a clash of heads that actually put Primus down
and Chandler down. – Round two. Michael Chandler,
Big John, obviously got round one on your scorecard. – No doubt about it,
he dominated that round. Almost closing in on a 10-8. – Brent Primus, his brother,
a veteran, Brandon, served
in the Marines. He's here tonight. His stepdad in the Army. Chandler trying to get back
what he believes has always been his. – I love the fact that Primus– he's throwing
a lot of things out, but it's the speed difference
that you're seeing between Michael Chandler
and Brent Primus, that is what is creating
the problem now for Primus.
He is having a hard time
dealing with the speed of Michael Chandler. – Primus has not
fought a ton, but he's never lost either. Good body shot, clean. – You can see that he's doing
damage to that leg, though, he keeps on
going after that kick. And you can see that
Michael Chandler's left leg is starting to get a little
bit pink, a little bit red. – And you know what,
it doesn't have to go– Oh! He got caught.
– He did! – He got caught
with a left hand. – He's on his…
– Primus on top! Primus just rocked Chandler. – Primus needs to settle down,
relax in this position, don't go crazy.
Just take your time and work–
work for that submission. – Trying to lock it in,
can he get it here? Brent Primus… – Does not have it
right now, Mike. Mike Chandler better get rid
of that arm or he's in trouble. And he does,
at least for now. (cheers and applause) We've got ourselves a fight! – We've see Michael Chandler
in this position with Eddie Alvarez before,
and that's exactly what he does. – That was a big shot
landed by Primus. But now he has a big problem
like he had in round number one, and that is Chandler
in top position. – And you can see that
Michael Chandler is trying to hide his head right now,
trying to gain some time to get his breath back
because look it, although that choke didn't work, it absolutely was tight
and was putting pressure on him. – And he got rocked.
– He did. – Michael Chandler
has never been submitted in his professional career. Big, heavy punches
from Chandler from the top,
able to posture up. And now the closed guard
again of Primus.
– Good job of Primus
to get him back to guard because he actually had
passed into half guard. Primus brings him back. – Primus said in
the first fight, he gave Chandler
way too much respect. – Primus is gonna
have a problem. If he cannot control
the posture of Michael Chandler, he cannot stay on the ground with a guy throwing
the shots with the power that Michael Chandler
is bringing.
– And as we've seen
over the years, Chandler doesn't need a lot
of space to do a ton of damage. – No, he has shown that he has
a very solid ground game, big ground and pound,
and when he brings his shots in, he brings power. (referee)
Let's go, fight. – Michael Chandler,
four career losses. Two of them were
split decisions losses. A fourth round TKO, and that first round loss
to Brent Primus 538 days ago. Just over a minute
on the clock here in room number two.
– And a small cut
on Chandler. and I believe it was
a clash of heads. As he was coming down,
Brent was bringing his head up. And there was a clash of heads
that caused that cut. (trainers shouting) – Chandler looking to become a three-time Bellator
lightweight world champion. Good ground and pound again
here in round two. There's some bruising on
the forehead of Primus from all this heavy
ground and pound from Chandler. – Primus now holding on,
he's controlling the posture, but this is not going
to do any good when he has got to open up
that guard and attack him.
– Chandler teeing off. Primus did a good job blocking that flurry.
(bell ringing) – Don't forget, immediately
following tonight's card, watch the Bellator 212 post show
(bell rings) on the Bellator app and DAZN,
download the app now. Jay Glazer, Chael Sonnen.
Josh Thompson will be at Miller Lite fight desk. Round three. Both men have landed
big shots. Chandler in round one, Primus in round two. – Both men have put each other on their butts
in this fight. This has turned into a great
battle between these two. – Big swing and a miss. Partner, I was
starting to say, when Primus connected
with Chandler, that he doesn't have to,
you know, deactivate the leg like
he did in that first fight. He can Benson Henderson
if he wants to and continue to just take
that leg away systematically. – Absolutely and, you know,
keep going after it. I honestly believe,
I think Michael Chandler would be better off being in
closer range to Brent Primus and not allowing Primus to
have that length on him.
There's all kinds
of ranges in fighting– We've got our kicking range,
we've got our punching range– I would want him to
come inside of that and utilize that range inside, then he could do damage
to Brent Primus and not have that long– that
jab that Brent Primus is using. Good right hand
by Chandler, but he's going back
to the well too many times trying to land that
big right hand. – Able to get back on top. (trainers shouting) Lotta training partners
and coaches from Hawaii… here cheering for
Brent Primus tonight. Born in Eugene, Oregon. Trains at Performance
Martial Arts in Eugene, his home gym since
he was a white belt. – You see Primus trying
to bring that leg over on top
of Chandler's arm, you're going to see Chandler
stand up and pull it out. There you go. This is where it becomes
very difficult for the submissions to start to
take place because of the sweat. There's nothing to
hold on to at times, and the guy has
to make a mistake for you to be able
to latch on to that.
And when that happens, it's a moment of time for you
for you to catch onto him. – And, oh, by the way, not that Primus can't
finish this fight in the third, fourth
or potentially fifth round, but all six of
his career finishes came in round number one. (trainers shouting) We're well past that way
and that point now, and we're just past
the midway point of this championship fight. And we've seen a lot
of history, John. – It's going to be interesting
to see what Herb Dean does. He keeps on pulling his foot
off of that cage and he's telling him,
don't put your toes in the cage. But Primus keeps going
back to it. Michael Chandler said,
I believe it was a fluke, if it was fact or fiction the first time,
it doesn't matter. He said I did train for
this fight like Brent Primus was the number one lightweight
in the world.
– Well, he better,
because right now, Brent Primus is the number one
light heavyweight in his cage. And he has got to prove that,
"You know what? No, I am", and that's what
he's trying to do right now. (trainers shouting) – Under 90 seconds on the clock
here in round number three. – Take a look at the hematoma
that you can see on Brent Primus' forehead, – I referenced that earlier.
Yeah, it's getting worse. – It's getting worse.
It's open and it's starting– What's happened is you
get a vein inside, it's obviously on
the outside of the skull, and it gets crushed,
and it starts pumping blood, and that blood
will continue to pump until that pressure
in that skin equalizes what
his blood pressure is. – Wow, Dr. McCarthy.
(John chuckles) – Nice movement by Brent Primus
trying to go for the leg, good attack,
but Michael Chandler, look it, he is a guy
that understands all of these positions.
His jiu-jitsu is strong,
his wrestling is strong, and he's got
an incredible base. And when you have a guy
that's got great base, man, he's hard to move off you. – Yeah, Primus was up,
out, if you will, for about four seconds before Chandler
transitioned once again. – The real question is,
you know, we're gonna be going into the fourth round. This is a round
that Michael Chandler has been to many times,
Brent Primus has not. What is he thinking?
(sticks clacking) – Michael Chandler has gone the full five rounds
three times. (bell rings)
We are set for round number four,
championship round number one. – The question is,
how does Brent Primus control Michael Chandler's
ability to put him on his back, 'cause it's happened
in all three rounds? – Well, I do think
that his coaches were giving him good advice.
Hey, man,
I need you to go back after hitting that leg.
(bell rings) That front leg is out there,
I need you to do something. – Primus came out quickly,
Chandler was ready. Championship rounds. Fourth round for the first time
in the career of Brent Primus. See the bruising
on the lead leg, on the outside lower leg
of Michael Chandler. But he seems to be
moving very well still. Big left hook. Chandler leaves his hands
down low when he extends out with that right hand,
he needs to be very careful.
– Another takedown. Of course, Michael Chandler
teammates with two-time Olympian,
2000 silver medalist, former Bellator welterweight
champion Ben Askren, and UFC welterweight champion, Strikeforce star
Tyron Woodley at the University of Missouri. His wrestling credentials
obviously outstanding, Division I all-American. – There's no doubt
that Michael Chandler is a great wrestler,
a great fighter. But I'll tell you what,
something was fed to those guys at Missouri during
that time, man. Between Askren,
Woodley, Chandler, they've got a group. What you're seeing,
you're trying to see, you're seeing Michael Chandler
try to turn his hip to get past that foot. Brent Primus is a great
jiu-jitsu practitioner, great black belt, understands
how to control the guard, but the biggest problem he has is he cannot get
Michael Chandler off of him.
– Michael Chandler named
his adopted son Hap, Hap Whittaker,
named after the old Missouri wrestling coach
Hap Whitney. Michael won
the Hap Whitney Award twice during his days at Mizzou. Three minutes on the clock,
round four. – You know, Chandler's
being busy right here, and that's why Herb Dean
is allowing this to continue. He's not just sitting in guard
going body-body-head. He is trying to move position,
he's trying to pass guard. He's not being successful,
but it's is he trying? Is he trying to
progress that position? (referee)
Let's work. – That's why now you see
Herb Dean says "let's work", and you see Michael Chandler
going back to trying to pass the guard, although he's not
successful in doing it.
– Past the midway point
of round four. – Posturing up here,
keeping his head down on Primus. This is a good technique, but with that position
and then posturing up, that opens things up
for Primus, but he's gotta open
that guard to attack. – Neutralizing doesn't
score you points. – It does nothing for you. Being on the bottom
right now for Primus, especially doing what he's
doing by body triangling here, putting the triangle
over the body in guard, only tells the judge you're
trying to be defensive, you try to hold on to him,
you're not trying to do any kind of submission, that's
not going to get you anywhere. – And you pointed out if
Chandler seemed busy enough, that Herb Dean's
letting him fight here in this position
on the ground. – And if you're looking at the
way you could score this fight you could maybe possibly
give Primus that second round, but the first, and the third,
and now the fourth is going to Chandler. So if you're thinking about
possibly getting a decision from these judges,
it's slipping away quickly.
– Michael Chandler has gone the full five rounds
three times. He is 1-2 in those fights, both losses by split decision to Eddie Alvarez
and Will Brooks. The win was a split decision
victory over Benson Henderson. (trainers shouting) Right now, we're not
looking towards a split if this pattern continues for
another almost six minutes. – One of the things
that we've always talked about with Chandler is he
does does come out, and he fights fast,
and he runs himself at 100 miles an hour,
and sometimes burns himself out.
That's where Benson Henderson
almost got him, you know, near the end
of that fight. In this type of fight, with what he's doing
with Primus, Michael Chandler can do this
for a long, long time. He's going to come out
the fifth round and he's still gonna
have a lot of energy and be very strong. Good job of coming up
if he gets that s– Pulls right out. But a good attempt
by Brent Primus to try to make something happen. – 15 seconds. (sticks clacking) Primus trying to do some type
of damage from his back. (bell rings) (music and applause) (bell rings)
Do everything you can to take him out in this round. – Fifth and final round. The champion in
the red gloves. The former champion,
on Big John's scorecard, has won every single round,
he is in the blue gloves.
Primus, first and foremost,
needs to stay on his feet. – That was a nice body shot
followed by another one. Back to the takedown, and that's that difference
in that wrestling level. Chael talked about Brent Primus being a good wrestler,
and he is. But he's not of the level
of Michael Chandler. (crowd jeering) – Eight fights in eight years. 14 fights including
his amateur career in 13 years. Primus on the verge
of being the defeated for the first time
as a professional. He was 13-1 as an amateur, but anything can happen in
these final 3:50, partner. – Primus trying to work towards
that omoplata here. He's got his leg in position,
but Michael is stopping his hips with the arm that he's
being attacked with. Notice he's sticking out
to the side, do I want to stay with this,
or do I want to try to create a scramble
and get out? 'Cause right now,
he does not have it.
(crowd jeering) (referee)
You guys need to work. – You see Chandler pulling out
of that omoplata. Right back into guard. (trainers shouting) This is what I'm talking about.
You see Primus, he's sitting up,
he's trying to create things, he's just getting stymied
by Michael Chandler understanding the position and putting him
back on to his back. – Under three minutes. Michael Chandler
looking to pull even with Patricio Pitbull with his 16th career win inside the Bellator cage. He would become the three-time
lightweight champion.
Past the midway point of
our fifth and final round. Wrestling 101,
ground and pound 201. – You have Primus looking
for that omoplata, trying to set something up. It's just not there
for him. Brent Primus is showing,
man, he's a tough guy. He has taken a lot of
big shots on the ground and he is still trying
to move his hips and still trying
to create openings to try to get something
on Michael Chandler.
– Under two minutes now. – Something spectacular needs
to happen for Primus now. It has happened before, but I won't go into
too many details with my buddy here tonight. (laughter) He knows. – It has happened.
But, you know, look it, you've gotta give it
to Brent Primus. He has come out here,
he has tried to defend his belt. Michael Chandler has just been
just a little too fast, a little too strong,
a little bit too explosive in putting him on his back. And Brent– Brent was not able
to do the things that he thought he could do off of his back
against Chandler. – But what we've
learned tonight, and what I think the world
wasn't certain of because of these long lapses
of inactivity for Brent Primus, is that he is a high-level,
real deal fighter.
– Oh, there's no doubt
Brent Primus is the real deal. This man can fight. He is tough, he is–
he is durable. You look at the shots
he's taking, he's dangerous, he's still– look at what
he's doing right here, trying to push
Michael Chandler off, trying to get himself back
to his feet. This is proof that
Brent Primus is the real deal. – Michael Chandler just the superior fighter. 538 days since fight number one. Ten seconds remain.
– Oh, it looks like
Primus is going for– – Yep.
– For an gogoplata there, Good attempt. Oh, big knee.
– Final seconds of the fight. And they go the distance.
(bell ringing) (cheers and applause) Here is Michael C. Williams. – Ladies and gentlemen,
having gone the distance in tonight's world title fight, we go to your three judges
at cageside. All three judges,
Michael Bell, Eric Colon, Ron MacCarthy, all see it
exactly the same, 50-45, for the winner by
unanimous decision, and now the new…
(cheers and applause) and three-time Bellator
lightweight world champion, Iron Michael Chandler!
(cheers continue) (Mike)
16th career win. Third time that belt has been
put around his waist. He's got three title defenses. He's with Big John.
– Come here, champ. (Chandler exhales) – Congratulations on
an outstanding victory against a guy
that you have to admit is one hell of a fighter. – That was, uh, that was
an awesome performance by Brent Primus, man. That guy came in here ready
to defend that belt. He is who he says he is.
A heck of a performance,
a heck of a fight. He made me earn every
single moment of that fight. So thank you, Brent, for
stepping into this cage with me. – In the second round–
in the first round, you were able to put him down
with a beautiful left hand. And then in the second round,
he put you down and he had you in a choke. How close was that? – Not close,
you saw me give– you saw me give
the thumbs up, man. Um, it was– it was there, but it was
a little bit too high.
I actually get in that position
a lot, and I usually end up in a scrambling reversal
like that. But it was tight, man. He's crafty,
he's craftier than I thought. – Well, we talked about
on the program and said that a lot of times
the same position you were in against Eddie Alvarez
and you got yourself out, and then you decided to utilize
that Missouri wrestling that you came in to MMA with. And you brought it back today
to put him in position so you can control the position,
control the fight, talk about that.
– Yeah, man, it was… it turned into
the game plan. You know, I w– I was able to
get on top, do some damage, man.
Every single moment I spent at
Northwest High School and then Mizzou wrestling
paid off tonight so I can wear this belt
for a third time. Um, man, like I said,
he's a heck of a competitor. He– he brought it,
he brought it, and it was a heck of a fight. – I agree with you.
I want to congratulate you on that third time being the
Bellator lightweight champion. Ladies and gentlemen,
your winner, champion Michael Chandler. – Thank you so much,
ladies and gentlemen, men and women in uniform. The reason I get
to do what I do, the reason we all get to do
what we do is because of you guys, your selflessness,
your sacrifice. We love each
and every one of you, each and every moment that
you have served this country.
God bless you guys..
