Michael Chandler is looking at two potential trilogy fights if he manages to take the title back from Brent Primus in December.

The problem is he doesn’t want either of them, and the one he wants is currently out of reach.

“The only rematch I want is that Eddie Alvarez trilogy,” Chandler (18-4 MMA, 15-4 BMMA) told MMAjunkie Radio earlier this month. “That’s a fight that every single MMA fan on the planet wants to see. That’s the only rematch I’m interested in.”

Ex-Bellator champ Alvarez (29-6), of course, just signed with ONE Championship, ruling out of a third fight with Chandler in a rivalry that’s produced two “Fight of the Year” contenders.

After losing the belt in 2017, Chandler has said big fights take priority over the title. But if he wins the strap, he may be asked to recover old ground.

Likely awaiting the winner of Chandler vs. Primus 2 is a bid from Patricky Freire (20-8 MMA, 13-7 BMMA), who’s worked his way back into contention with four straight wins including three knockouts.

For Chandler, that means a third fight against an opponent he twice beat – and viciously knocked out.

“I will say I would prefer not to fight Patricky ‘Pitbull’ for the third time and finish the trilogy of me crushing him for a third time,” he said. “How many times do you get crushed by a guy and get a third crack at him? So I don’t know why he thinks he deserves to fight me again.”

Then there’s the prospect of a rubber match with Primus (8-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA), who pulled off a major upset when Chandler suffered an ankle injury and was rescued by the referee at “Bellator NYC: Sonnen vs. Silva” in June 2017.

Primus subsequently took a sabbatical to prepare for the birth of his child. A rematch in April at Bellator 197 was called off when he suffered a knee injury.

Chandler thinks Primus is scared to fight. So incensed is he at being forced to wait that he refuses to pronounce Primus’ name correctly, concluding no one knows because the champ is so anonymous.

“He should be thanking me once again, for No. 1, getting to step in the cage with me, and No. 2, affording him the opportunity to take his family on a vacation, because part-time fighters don’t have the finances, nor the opportunity, to take their family to a beautiful place like Hawaii,” Chandler said.

It goes without saying that of all the options on the table, a rematch with Primus is the one he most dreads.

“When I go out there and finish ‘Brett Preeble’ in the first round in December, I think he’s going to be asking for a rematch,” he said. “But I don’t think ‘Bryce’ deserves a rematch. If Bellator wants me to fight ‘Ben’ again, I’ll do it for a third time.”

Then again, the former two-time champ isn’t even convinced Primus will make it to their scheduled fight at Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.

“The guy doesn’t even have a track record of one fight per year,” Chandler said. “The guy is just constantly not taking fights, pulling out of fights.

“I still to this day have been saying that I don’t think I’ll fight ‘Bryce Prebus’ in December. I think he’ll pull out of the fight and he’ll get stripped, and I’ll have to fight someone else. I do not have any faith of him stepping into the cage.”

So where does that leave Chandler? In a familiar place of uncertainty. But he’s gotten used to that over the past year. Unable to get his title back, he’s sought to build himself as Bellator’s biggest star, whether or not that’s signified by a piece of gold.

“I don’t need the belt, nor do I care to fight Brice Prebus,” he said. “It does nothing for my careeer. Nobody knows who he is. So for me, I just want big fights. Do I want the belt? Of course. Do I care who I fight to win that belt? Not really.”

For more on Bellator in Hawaii, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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