Israel Adesanya: UFC 276 fight with Jared Cannonier will be like Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin

Israel Adesanya is expecting a flawless performance against Jared Cannonier.

Middleweight champion Adesanya (22-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC) takes on Cannonier (15-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) in the UFC 276 main event July 2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“The Last Stylebender” is coming off back-to-back decision wins over Marvin Vettori and Robert Whittaker, but senses his fight with Cannonier will be a special performance.

“This is going to be spectacular,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “Think UFC 101, Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin. Like, I’m just going to be in the zone. I don’t care – stay tuned.”

Anderson Silva put on a striking masterclass against Forrest Griffin in 2009, and embarrassed the former champion by dodging, feinting and taking him out in the first round at UFC 101. After his TKO loss, Griffin infamously left the cage and jogged backstage before the final result was read.

In his rise up the middleweight ranks, Adesanya got to square off with his idol Silva and beat “The Spider” by unanimous decision at UFC 234 in 2019. Their entertaining standup battle earned Fight of Night honors.

Adesanya will look to notch his fifth title defense against Cannonier. He trails Silva, the consensus greatest middleweight of all time, by six. You can watch Episode 2 of Adesanya’s training camp VLOG in the video below.