By defeating those three men and winning the tournament, Chandler earned a Bellator lightweight title shot against champion, and top-ranked 155 fighter Eddie Alvarez on October 15.

Helping Chandler prepare for the biggest fight of his life is boxing and MMA coach at Xtreme Couture, Gil Martinez, one of the most knowledgeable and respected coaches in the sport.

“Mike is a pleasure to work with,” said Martinez in an exclusive interview with FiveOuncesofPain.com. “He’s one of the hardest working athletes I’ve ever worked with. He’s in there day in and day out and doesn’t complain.”

Martinez has never doubted Chandler, saying, “He could have done anything. He could have done well in any sport. I could see that Chandler really wanted to be a force in MMA, that he wanted to go far, and next thing you know he won the Bellator tournament.”

A student of MMA and boxing, Martinez has worked with some of the best strikers in the world, including Vitor Belfort. So what’s it like training a veteran striker with quick hands and explosive power like Belfort and training someone like Chandler, who comes from a wrestling background?

“The biggest difference is that Vitor is seasoned and well-rounded. You can work on new things and teach him different things to help him improve. But with a wrestler like (Gray) Maynard or Chandler, you have to start from scratch, but they’re so motivated to learn,” said Martinez.

Chandler’s opponent on October 15 is not only the Bellator lightweight champion, but he’s also only lost twice in his career and has won seven straight bouts in the Bellator cage.

Despite that winning streak, Gil doesn’t believe that Alvarez has fought anyone like Chandler. “Mike is going to really test Alvarez. No disrespect to Alvarez’ last few opponents, but everyone he’s fought recently has been on the way down or not in a good place or time in their life. But with Mike, he’s young, talented, tough, and hungry.”

Considered to be one of the best boxers in MMA, with a wrestling background to go along with his hands, Alvarez is a tough match-up for anyone in the sport. But Martinez knows that his fighter stacks up well against the champion.

“Alvarez is the more experienced striking but Chandler is the better wrestler and his striking is getting better every day,” said Martinez. “Everyone thought Pitbull (Patricky Freire) was going to out-strike Chandler and he proved them wrong. And now we’ve had even more time to improve that striking.”

Maybe it’s just a coach believing in his fighter, but under the guidance of Gil, don’t be shocked if there’s a new Bellator champion on October 15 in New Jersey.

*PHOTO CREDIT – BELLATOR*

“I’m going back to 185,” said Prangley, “I weighed in at 203 without cutting. I want to go back to where I should be.”

Prangley was slated to face Matt Lindland in the ill-fated Affliction show that was scheduled for October. Lindland and Prangley have been rumored to be fighting for a couple of years now – ever since they were both working with BodogFight. Prangley still has his sights set on that specific match-up.

“I’d love to fight Matt Lindland. The guy has been ranked in the top 10 for how many years now? Seems like almost since MMA began,” Prangley said.

With a possible match-up against Lindland a few months away, Prangley wants to keep busy in the meantime.

“I hope I am on (the Affliction show). I’d like to be,” said Prangley, “I am going to get try to get on the next Strikeforce show in November or try to fulfill one of my fights with Dream. Either way, I want to fight again before the Affliction show.”

Now Ryan’s family is wondering if the doctor and his mix of narcotics are what ultimately led to Ryan’s untimely death:

“Doctor Sabino is crazy, a murderer,” Flávia Gracie, sister of the fighter, said in statements to the Brazilian press. “I told him to stop giving medicine to my brother. He said it was to prevent Ryan from being aggressive at the station. I argued that too much medicine would hurt, and the doctor replied that any remedy hurt, even aspirin.”

“Ryan, although wrong, had to be arrested and charged for crimes,” said Robson Gracie, Ryan’s father. “But his death is another thing. I will inquire about that quack doctor.”

The doctor, however, claims it wasn’t his medicine that killed Ryan:

“As I told a colleague, the dose that was applied was so little,” he said. “I have the greatest regret for what happened, but I fought against this with all I know.”

There are some other details in the report, such as the question of why Ryan was not taken to a hospital after being under the influence of several drugs and had taken blows to the head, as well as the fact that a report on the cause of death should be available in roughly 30 days. Click here for the full report.

The details surrounding a cause of death are a little bit sketchy, per the Associated Press:

The 33-year-old Gracie, who competed in several international ultimate fighting events, was arrested Friday after allegedly stealing a car at knifepoint, crashing it into a concrete wall and then trying to steal a motorcycle, police inspector Paulo Bittencourt said.

Bittencourt, head of Sao Paulo’s 91st police district where Gracie was locked up in an individual cell, said that during the morning roll call Gracie did not respond.

“When I went to his cell, I saw him lying on his mattress,” Bittencourt said. “He had no pulse and a reddish liquid was coming out of his mouth. It seems to me he died of a heart attack.”

The Agencia Estado news service quoted Gracie’s physician Sabino Ferreira de Farias as saying that, at the time of his arrest, the fighter was taking antidepressants and anti-psychotic medication.

Globo TV said Farias tested Gracie’s urine shortly after his arrest and found traces of cocaine, crack and marijuana. Bittencourt would not comment on the unconfirmed reports, and Farias could not be contacted at his drug rehabilitation clinic.

Click here to read the AP article in its entirety