Robert Whittaker vs. Jared Cannonier added to UFC 248 in March

The UFC 248 fight card is beginning to take shape.

Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will return to action at UFC 248 when he faces Jared Cannonier on March 7 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Whittaker vs. Cannonier joins a growing UFC 248 fight card, which also includes the strawweight title fight between Weili Zhang and former champion Joanna Jedrzejcyzk.

Whittaker, who was also pushing for a potential matchup with Darren Till, was anxious to return to the Octagon after suffering a second-round knockout loss to Israel Adesanya in October that cost him the UFC middleweight title.

Overall, Whittaker is 8-1 as a middleweight, including a pair of wins over Yoel Romero while he was defending the 185-pound title.

Now he draws a fight with Cannonier, who is 3-0 since moving to middleweight in the UFC, including wins over David Branch, Jack Hermansson and former champion Anderson Silva.

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Cannonier has been called the “dark horse” of the division by Adesanya and it’s likely he’ll be gunning for a title shot against “The Last Stylebender” should he walk away victorious against Whittaker at UFC 248.

There have been rumors that Adesanya might end up on the same card in March, although nothing has been determined yet with the date or location for his first title defense as the undisputed UFC middleweight champion.