MMA fans may not have been overly entertained by Israel Adesanya’s win over Yoel Romero at this past weekend’s UFC 248 in Las Vegas, but one UFC middleweight was left with positive vibes after watching the fight.
Jared Cannonier was an interested spectator as Adesanya outpointed Romero in a fight lacking the explosive action many had anticipated during the build-up. But, rather than coming away feeling disappointed, “The Killa Gorilla” says he feels pretty happy with what he saw.
“It wasn’t pleasing to the casual fan, pleasingly aesthetic to what these guys want to see,” Cannonier (13-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) told Submission Radio. “I wasn’t sitting there booing; I was sitting there intrigued. Of course, I’m potentially one of the guys’ opponents, so I’m watching with more of a keen eye.
“I was just downloading every bit right there, and I feel like I’m a better fighter after watching those two fight. … You can say they respected each other too much or they employed a little too much caution – to the fans’ detriment, but not to mine.”
Cannonier feels his stock is higher following that fight, but he also admitted that the contest’s relative lack of action didn’t come as a huge surprise to him, given the stylistic tendencies of both men.
“I thought it was going to be a little bit more exciting, but what we saw happen what happened, was what I thought was going to happen,” he explained. “I said that if we see Romero do what Romero has done in his last couple of fights, which is back away, wait around and stand in front of his opponent and try to explode at the perfect moment, then ‘Izzy’ is going to be able to snipe him from afar, pick him apart and run his game.
“‘Izzy’ was successful in retaining his title, and Yoel didn’t do much of anything to take the title, to win the title. So, if you ask me who won the fight, that would be my reply. ‘Izzy’ did enough to retain the title. I’m not going to say he won that fight, even though technically he won that fight, but I would say he did enough to retain the title. And that’s kind of like what he was saying at the end. He was saying ‘I’m going to do what I’ve got to do.’”
But what does Cannonier have to do? He has his sights set on a top contender fight for his next appearance. Nothing is booked yet, but he says he wants a fight that will propel him into a title shot with a victory, and he doesn’t care who it is.
“I’ll fight any of them that will get me a title shot,” he stated. “It doesn’t matter who it is. Everybody’s saying nobody’s calling out Yoel. I say, (I’ll fight) anybody ahead of me who gives me a title shot – anybody. It includes Yoel, it includes anybody ahead of me that gets me a title shot, or anybody behind me that gets me a title shot. One fight, then a title shot, because I’m beating anybody you put in front of me.”
Jared Cannonier after watching Adesanya vs. Romero at UFC 248: I feel like I'm a better fighter
