HOUSTON — Jared Cannonier considers himself a major event player.
Saturday’s UFC 271 co-main event sees Cannonier, the No. 6 middleweight in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings, taking on No. 4 Derek Brunson will take on No.
The person holding the title will also be decided Saturday as champion Israel Adesanya defends his title in a rematch against Robert Whittaker in the headliner at Toyota Center.
“I can’t really make that prediction, but based off of the last fight, one would have to say Izzy has more of a chance of making it happen again,” Cannonier said at UFC 271 media day on Wednesday. Robert is not being taken lightly. He was the champ once before. He’s who he says he is, and has been at the top as long as it’s for good reasons.
“So both of those guys are high-level fighters. They are some of the top fighters in UFC and around the globe. And they’re just holding a spot for me.”
After moving from heavyweight, Cannonier became an instant contender. He defeated David Branch in the second round of UFC 230. Then, he followed that up with TKO wins over Jack Hermansson and Anderson Silva.
“The Killa Gorilla” is 4-1 at middleweight (his lone loss a unanimous decision to Whittaker) and he expects a win over Brunson to place him in a fight with Adesanya or Whittaker. He didn’t make a firm prediction for the UFC 271 main event, though he’s confident that he’ll be seeing one of those fighters soon.
Cannonier discusses Brunson’s evaluation of his abilities, Benson Henderson’s retirement talk and his thoughts about whether or not he will fight again in another division.
