Former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandleralready has said he doesn’t want trilogies against Patricky Freire or Brent Primus.

Freire has been vocal about the issue, and he’s got a win streak on his side. Primus has a good storyline and a lot of time left on his career. So what happens if Bellator forces the issue?

“Well, I’ve made a fortune in this sport by being a good employee,” Chandler told MMAjunkie. “I’ve made a fortune because I’m an exciting fighter, and I’m a good employee. That’s not something not a lot of people can say.”

Chandler (18-4 MMA, 15-4 BMMA) likes a trilogy fight with Eddie Alvarez and even a fight with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, even though both of those are currently out of reach. For now, he’s got one thing in mind, and that’s avenging a loss when he meets Primus (8-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) at Bellator 212.

As for what happens afterward, Chandler will have a sitdown with his boss and hash out his next steps.

“There’s a fine line between knowing your worth and knowing what you can say and what you can do and actually doing it,” Chandler said. “We’ll see. I have preferences in who I do and don’t want to fight. The problem is this is the fight game, so if you turn down a fight, or say you don’t want to fight a certain person, it could be construed as you’re scared of the person, or you don’t like the matchup.”

Right now, Chandler feels reasonably certain his fight with Primus will happen, which isn’t something he’s been confident about for a long time. After injuries and other out-of-cage issues forced the delay of their rematch, he railed at the champ’s inability to sign on the dotted line.

But with the DAZN-streamed fight set for Friday at Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, he’s about as cautiously optimistic as he can be.

“I’m more convinced now that he hasn’t pulled out yet,” Chandler said. “But unfortunately, as with any MMA contest, until that cage door closes, there’s no guarantee the fight’s actually going to happen. We’ll see. I’m hoping it does. I’m thinking it will. I know the cards are stacked in our favor, because he gets a Hawaiian vacation out of it.”

Although Chandler values big fights more than the belt at this point in his career, he admits the prospect of winning back the strap is an enticement.

“It means a lot to me to be the Bellator champion,” Chandler said. “So I never want to discredit that. But to me, it’s about the big fights, the eyeballs, the exciting fights, the fights that get me pumped up about what I do. So it’s not necessarily the belt at the end of the tunnel, it’s the win and the performance and the motivation and inspiration to everyone who’s been following my career for all these years.”

The only question is what happens next if things go as Chandler plans.

“After I dispose of the current champion, there’s really no clear No. 1 contender,” Chandler said. “There’s no clear lightweight that’s proven themselves that they deserve another shot at the title or a shot at the title.”

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