No. 2 ranked middleweight contender Jared Cannonier headlines Saturday’s UFC 276 fight card against champion Israel Adesanya.
Before Cannonier became a contender in the 185-pound division, he met Adesanya backstage at UFC 230 in November 2018. It was Cannonier’s middleweight debut and Adesanya fought Derek Brunson on the same fight card.
“Backstage, me and him actually came face to face. I introduced myself because I had been a fan of his already. We were fighting on the same card. I thought that was cool,” Cannonier said during the UFC 276 Media Day on Wednesday.
“I introduced myself to him and congratulated him on his fight because I got to watch his fight. It was kind of interesting. He was respectful, but it felt like he was kind of sizing me up at the same time. He even said that, ‘Yeah, we’ll see each other.’ I was like, well, shit, if we do let’s have a good ass fight.”
Hear what else Cannonier had to say during Wednesday’s media day, including his mentality heading into the title bout and what it would mean to him to become the champion.
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Jared Cannonier UFC 276 Media Day Video
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Jared Cannonier details meeting Israel Adesanya for the first time | UFC 276 Media Day Video
