Michael Chandler is coming up for air after his April defeat at the hands of Paddy Pimblett.

The American former Bellator champion, 39, suffered his fifth defeat in his past six contests in his UFC 314 scrap with the Liverpool man, succumbing to a third-round TKO loss in a fight in which he struggled to impose himself against a fighter nine years his junior.

And with his title aspiration at 155-pounds now likely ended, barring a sustained run of victories in what is the twilight of his career, Chandler has spoken out as to why he failed to gain a foothold in the contest — and credited his opponent for not giving him any type of platform from which to mount his offence.

“I feel like I couldn’t get my rhythm, I couldn’t get my range,” Chandler told of MMA Junkie of his time in the cage with Pimblett in Miami.

“Obviously, Paddy fights long, he fights with his chin way up in the air, and he’s pretty far away from you. He throws a lot of kicks to keep the distance, and I felt like I was just kind of getting settled in … [I] took the knee to the face, then got taken down, and that was the end of it.

“It’s one of those deals where you learn. Hat’s off to Paddy, he had a great gameplan, went out there and got the win.”

Chandler added that he was suffering from a knee complaint in the lead-in to the fight, but also stressed that it was his decision to make the walk to the cage and that he doesn’t regret accepting the fight.

“I was coming off a knee injury that I needed to get some rehab on and some physical therapy and all that stuff,” Chandler explained. “It started feeling better, and I’m the kind of guy where I’d rather just go than sit around and wait.

“Maybe that was the wrong decision, but I was moving around well in the training camp. The decision to take the fight pretty early was my decision and my decision alone.”