The UFC’s women’s bantamweight division is wide open at the moment,
and it will be interesting to see if a newcomer like Chandler can
make a dent—even if her debut will be contested at a catchweight of
140 pounds. A Stockton, California, native and a disciple of the
Diaz brothers, Chandler has looked solid in her pro career thus far
at both bantamweight and featherweight. She is aggressive and packs
the requisite level of knockout power, along with some strong
grappling. Of course, with these being relatively thin
divisions—particularly at the regional level—it is unclear how
ready Chandler is for a step up in competition, and Stoliarenko
should be a good litmus test. The UFC’s first Lithuanian-born
fighter, it took Stoliarenko five fights over two stints with the
promotion to finally score her first win inside the Octagon,
landing an armbar submission of Jessica-Rose
Clark in just 42 seconds in July. While Stoliarenko has put in
some obvious improvements to round out her game, her success has
still almost entirely relied on her ability to quickly find an
armbar. Save for the decision win over Lisa
Verzosa that earned Stoliarenko her UFC return in 2020, all of
her professional wins have come via first-round armbar. Chandler is
a willing grappler who may charge herself right into danger, but
she has shown enough chops on the mat to suggest she can ride out
things in the early going and separate herself as the much harder
hitter over 15 minutes. The pick is Chandler via decision.
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