Michael Chandler went to WWE NXT on Wednesday night to keep order, and he left the ring the fast way. The UFC lightweight worked as the special guest enforcer for an Unsanctioned Match between Cruz Montana and Dion Lennox on the November 4 episode, which airs on The CW. Partway through, he stepped in and was put through the ropes for his trouble.
MMA Mania’s Jesse Holland reported that Chandler objected to handcuffs being used in the corner of the ring and tried to intervene. He got two-handed through the ropes instead. WWE’s own account posted the clip and said Lennox “just SWATTED” Chandler away. Ariel Helwani reposted it with a two-word reaction on X: “Iron Mike!”
According to Fightful’s recap, the match itself spilled all over ringside. Chandler had a brief verbal exchange with Lennox before things got physical. DarkState (Osiris Griffin and Cutler James) came out to help Lennox, and then the lights in the Performance Center went out. When they came back up, the 946 faction was standing there, and they took Griffin and James out of the picture. Montana, who joined 946 on the November 2 edition of Raw, put Lennox through a table and finished him with the Spin the Block for the win. 946 posed in the ring to close the segment.
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Chandler had previewed the night on X that morning, writing, “Woke up with a pit in my stomach…but that sensation is nothing new to a man who constantly throws himself into the fire.” He’s a longtime wrestling fan who shows up on WWE programming from time to time, and the crossover is an easy one to arrange. WWE and the UFC both sit under TKO Group Holdings, Inc.
The fighting side of his career has been rough. Chandler is 40 years old and 23-11. Holland’s report puts him on a four-fight losing streak, with six losses in eight fights since his UFC debut in early 2021. Four of those six losses were finishes. He has still collected five post-fight bonuses over that stretch, three of them for Fight of the Night, which tells you why the UFC keeps booking him and why fans keep watching. None of Wednesday’s coverage mentions a next fight.
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My take: this is the most natural fit in the TKO building. Chandler has always fought like a man who knows there’s a crowd behind the cameras, and pro wrestling pays that instinct without the bill coming due on his chin. Getting launched through the ropes by Lennox costs him nothing. Six losses in eight fights, four of them finishes, have cost him plenty. If he wants to keep showing up at the Performance Center to take a bump for a good cause, I’m all for it. I’d just like the next time he walks out in the UFC to be against an opponent who gives him a real shot, because a 40-year-old with that bonus count deserves a fight he can win as much as one he can survive.
