If Khamzat Chimaev is planning his next fight in the middleweight division, former UFC middleweight title contender Jared Kannonier, ranked third in the division, is ready to share the octagon with the Chechen fighter.
“If he wants to be at the top, he needs to beat at least someone in the top ten,” the American said in an interview with Helen Yeh. “He should fight me, Robert Whittaker or Israel Adesanya. If you want to give him someone, give him a top three fighter like you did in welterweight. Can’t say I’m focused on him right now because I’m only focused on myself, but it would be an interesting fight, damn it.”
“It seems to me that you need to definitely fight for your way to the top. To a certain extent, I understand the business side of the matter, but if he gets a title shot right away, it won’t look good, that’s for sure. How many fights did Alex Pereira have before fighting for the title? Two three? In any case, I’m not going to tell them what to do – the UFC has its own structure and they themselves know what is best for them – but if anything, I’m ready to do it.
Jared Cannonier got his career back on track last month after a poor title fight with Israel Adesanya, winning a five-round split decision over Sean Strickland.
Khamzat Chimaev, who won six consecutive victories in the UFC, in a recent interview said that the organization’s matchmakers are having difficulty finding opponents for him, and also once again challenged the reigning UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira. At the same time, Borz made it clear that he plans to hold his next fight on March 4 at UFC 285 in Las Vegas.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/30424-dzhared-kannonir-gotov-dratsya-s-khamzatom-chimaevym.html?rand=19907
