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Bellator lightweight champion?Michael Chandler isnt overly cocky or brash, yet he isnt afraid to speak his mind regardless of what others may think.Theres a fine line between humility and not thinking highly enough of yourself, Chandler told ESPN.com. I spent a lot of years tip-toeing around, being afraid of what people were going to think. Its OK to have a little bit of pride in yourself. I spent way too many years suppressing that, and I just refuse to live a life thats not conducive of a champion.After knocking out Patricky Pitbull Freire with a thunderous right hand -- described by Chandler as hitting the sweet spot on a baseball bat -- to recapture the lightweight title in May, Chandler has begun to enjoy the fruits of his labor, to take stock of a great moment in his career.I stand here not afraid to admit that Ive watched that knockout a thousand times,?Chandler said. If my visions come to fruition, Im going to knock Benson Henderson out in the first or second round just as devastatingly.Chandler will look to make that prediction true against Henderson (24-6) on Saturday in the headliner of Bellator 165 from the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The matchup pits the Bellator and UFC 155-pound champions from 2012 and most of 2013 against each other.Henderson defended the UFC strap three times in that time frame while Chandler defended the Bellator belt twice. Chandler says he wouldve loved a shot to fight Henderson then, to see who the true premier lightweight in the world was, but he gets his shot years later -- a stretch of time Chandler claims he has only benefited from.I feel like Im the best Ive ever been, and I think its happening at the worst time for him, Chandler said. I think he has done nothing but second guess himself, decline in skill, and I think at this point hes settled on becoming the head coach at the [MMA] Lab. You know, you get to coach and be a gym owner. I was focused on gold belts.While both fighters are 3-3 in their last six bouts, Chandler is riding a three-fight win streak in which he has dominated his opponents, including the knockout of Freire that Bellators Jimmy Smith called fast in slow motion. In his own stretch, Henderson fought three times at welterweight, including his Bellator debut to Andrey Koreshkov in April, a unanimous decision loss. In his title eliminator fight with Patricio Pitbull Freire?in August, Henderson didnt look stellar prior to winning via TKO in the second round when Freire was unable to continue with a leg injury.Hes past his prime, and he has taken way too many shots, Chandler said. He doesnt believe in himself anymore, he doesnt believe he can beat me. He sat there and he lied to Scott Coker at the negotiation table. Scott Cokers writing him big checks, and hes coming out and underperforming. Im going to go out there and put a nail in the coffin, and send him off into retirement down there in Arizona.This appears to be the halcyon age for Chandler, but to get here, he had to go through some dark times. The aforementioned three-fight losing skid, in which Chandler dropped the title to Eddie Alvarez in a contested split decision, kicked it off. That loss was followed by back-to-back defeats to Will Brooks. He went 688 days without a victory, a time he says made him grow physically, mentally and spiritually into the man he is today.During that time, Chandler decided to switch camps and train with the Blackzilians in Boca Raton, Florida. He reconnected with grappling coach Neil Melanson, whom he bonded with while beginning his MMA career at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. Chandler says that their dynamic works great because hed run through a brick wall if his coach told him to, and it would be reciprocated. He adds that relationships like theirs are rare in this sport, and compared it to the likes of Demetrious Johnson and Matt Hume or Frankie Edgar with Mark Henry.He has been my grappling coach, head coach, good friend, mentor, and hes worth his weight in gold because hes the best grappling coach in the entire world, Chandler said. He loves me more than anybody else in this entire sport. He believes in me more than anybody else in this entire sport, and thats a very powerful thing.Based on his words, you could think that Chandler is looking past Henderson this Saturday, but that isnt the case. The Bellator champion says his work inside the gym is producing the best version of Michael Chandler to date. Saturday is the five-year anniversary of Chandler-Alvarez I, one of the best fights of 2011. A kid one year and a half out of college submitted a perennial top-five lightweight in the fourth round to win his first title. Now proven to the world and comfortable in his own skin -- to call it the way he sees it -- Chandler only has to measure up to his own standards.The only person that I need to outperform out there is myself, Chandler said. If I go out there, and I put together my game plan, and I put together my hands and my feet, and my aggression, and my speed, and my power together like I know I can, theres not a man in this division, in this world, that can stop me. Air Max Sale Cheap .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Kevin Porter and defenceman Chad Ruhwedel from the minors as part of a five-player roster shuffle made by the NHLs worst team. Cheap Air Max Shoes Online . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. http://www.airmaxcheapwholesale.com/ .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Cheap Nike Air Max Clearance . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. Air Max Cheap Wholesale . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks. SEOUL, South Korea -- South Koreas top female table tennis player, China-born Jeon Ji-hee, has an easy explanation for why she had to leave her homeland to compete in the game she loves.There are way too many good players in China, Jeon said after a pre-Olympics practice session. Its extremely hard to make it to the national team.This simple recognition has led to an exodus of Chinese talent -- and to worries that it will take more than the wanderings of Chinas second-tier athletes to save a sport so thoroughly dominated by one nation.At the Rio Olympics, China will not only have the worlds best table tennis players, but also will have produced the best players on the rosters of many other national squads.Unrelenting dominance by one country of a sport isnt unusual, of course, but Chinas table tennis supremacy is on a different level. Some believe that for the sport to thrive other nations must have some hope of winning on an international stage every now and then -- and not just with outside Chinese talent.Table tennis in China, despite what some see as a dip in its popularity, remains a source of national pride. A highly developed infrastructure scouts talented young athletes, often in kindergarten, and then grooms them into world beaters.The success of this system is reflected in Olympic gold: China has won all but four gold medals since table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988.Before the 2012 Olympics in London, a rule change allowed each country to only put forward two players for singles. China rolled on regardless, winning all the golds and silvers for singles, and leaving bronze for the rest of the world.The exodus of Chinese players is partly explained by the intense competition to make the national team. Current world No. 1 Liu Shiwen, for instance, didnt get one of Chinas two spots for singles.With so much talent, many Chinese players must contemplate a move abroad for a shot at the Olympics.The United States has two players who started their careers in China, including Yue Jennifer Wu. Three of the players on Australias six-person team were born in China and a fourth was born in Melbourne to Chinese parents.Only three nations in the womens competition in 2012 were without a China-born player, or a player with Chinese roots -- Egypt, North Korea and Japan.A major reason for Chinas success in table tennis is an intense, some might say obsessive, dedication to training; it also partially explains why some players leave.One of the Australian team members, Jian Fang Lay, used to run away after school to avoid her coaching sessions in China, according to the Australian Olympic Committees website.Kai Zhang, a China-born player hoping to mmake the 2020 U.ddddddddddddS. Olympics team, said coaches in China required even the sick and injured to train.If you want to be a world champion, it is better to train in China, Zhang said in an interview posted on the USA Table Tennis website last year. But if you want to have a balanced life and want to be happy and free, then training in the U.S. is better.Chinas talent identification system is also more advanced than other countries.China trains a huge number of players from a young age. South Korea simply waits for a talented one to be found, said Kim Taeksoo, a South Korean former Olympic player. If there are no talented young players that are being nurtured, the chances of beating Chinese players are very low.China seems to recognize a need to help the rest of the world catch up.Officials have made efforts to try to nurture talent in other countries, allowing foreign players to attend table tennis schools in Chinese provinces, for example, and sending Chinese coaches abroad, Zhao Xia, a Chinese Table Tennis Association official said.Far from resenting the exodus of talented players, China encourages and supports them, said a national table tennis association official who would only give his surname, Wang, because he wasnt authorized to speak to the media.Its possible that those players might beat Chinese national team players, but still, it is in China that they acquired their skills and tactics, Wang said.From a purely athletic perspective, watching two world-class athletes compete in long rallies that often seem to test the laws of physics with chopping spin shots and powerful smashes can be entertainment enough, even if both players happen to be Chinese.But the Olympics are often a nationalistic affair, and many people wont tune in unless their country has a chance at winning.One country being far too good ruins the sportsmanship and the fun part of it, Kim, the South Korean Olympian, said. Most European and Asian countries are losing table tennis fans.For the players who leave China to compete for new countries, there can also be psychological strain.When you dont know the opponent, you dont feel anything emotionally, said Jeon, the China-born ace for South Korea. But because I know (the Chinese players) and have trained there ... my thoughts become complicated.---AP journalists Jungho Choi in Seoul, Dennis Passa in Australia and Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.---Foster Klug, APs bureau chief in Seoul, South Korea, is covering table tennis and badminton in Rio. 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