UFC middleweight Jared Cannonier only just dispatched Sean Strickland via decision, and at the post-fight press conference demanded another run at the middleweight title. Cannonier’s last fight before the Strickland bout was against Israel Adesanya, a five-round shutout that saw Adesanya easily dispatch Cannonier via decision himself.
As for what’s next, Cannonier expects a title shot. “If not a title shot, hopefully, the contenders match. That’s what I would hope for. Either or a title shot at the beginning of 2023, or the fight that gives me the title shot in the middle or late 2023.”
Cannonier Demands UFC Title Charge
Strickland posted a video on social media blasting the judges’ decision making: “I’m a f****** sore loser. Hats off to Jared. But again, you have judges that don’t know how to f****** do their job. You actually look at the scorecards and you look at the significant strikes and you look at how many times I wobbled him, and you know, you have people — experts in the field — come up to me and say, ‘Yeah man, I don’t know how you lost that one.
You landed way more. The scorecards should say it.’ So anyway, I’m going to shut the f*** up now and get off my soapbox. Thank you guys for supporting me. Thank you to the UFC. Back to the drawing board. On to the next one.”
Jared Cannonier saw the fight differently, and praised his opponent. “I definitely thought I won at least three of the five rounds. I felt confident that I won three out of five rounds, and on top of that I felt confident that I won the fight in general.
[Strickland’s] good at what he does. He’s really good at moving forward, putting that jab out there, and then getting out of the way. If I gave him the look like, ‘Here I come.’ He was already aware, primed and getting ready his check hook or whatever combination he was going to throw, or just move away altogether.”
Interestingly, both Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland were coming off losses against middleweight champions. Cannonier’s last loss was against Israel Adesanya when Adesanya had the belt, and that same night saw Alex Pereira annihilate Strickland inside a single round.
Is this the beginning of a fresh title charge for Jared Cannonier? Should he face another contender like Paulo Costa or Robert Whittaker before taking a run at Alex Pereira? Let us know in the comments.
