‘It’s Either Title or Contender’ for Jared Cannonier After UFC on ESPN 29 Win

Before he lost to Robert Whittaker at UFC 254 last October, Jared Cannonier appeared to be Israel Adesanya’s choice for No. 1 contender at middleweight.

That setback knocked “The Killa Gorilla” down the contender’s queue, but Cannonier rebounded to post a five-round verdict over Kelvin Gastelum in the UFC on ESPN 29 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

“Any win is good,” Cannonier said at the post-fight press conference. “I feel good after that win. Took a little bit of damage but I’m not broken so I can go home and hug my kids and be able to play with them come Monday and stuff like that. So I’m happy.”

In his post-fight interview in the Octagon, Cannonier said that he was “broke,” so it was important for him to earn a victory in his first bout since that aforementioned loss to Whittaker. It was a competitive fight throughout, but Cannonier scored the only knockdown of the fight and appeared to get stronger as the matchup progressed.

“I could say there’s always that tension when there’s a decision but I knew I won that decision,” Cannonier said. “I knew I had at least the last three rounds. After I knocked him down, I felt I took the momentum and I maintained it for the most part. Not necessarily any concern.”

At the moment, it appears that Whittaker is slated for a rematch with Adesanya with the middleweight belt on the line. However, COVID restrictions could delay that bout until next year, which means Cannonier might need to take another fight in the meantime.

“It’s either title or contender,” Cannonier said. “It was supposed to be [Paulo] Costa but that didn’t happen. I really needed to fight. I don’t think Izzy and Robert are going to fight until next year.

“So that’s what four, five, six months even? And then another three, four months after that? I can’t wait that long. So who knows, I might end up taking a fight.”

If he does indeed accept another fight while waiting on the Adesanya-Whittaker rematch, Cannonier needs the stakes to be appropriately high.

If they give me a name, ‘If you win, you get the shot,’ OK. Easy,” Cannonier said. “… I will say the end of the year, beginning of… 2022. Yeah, three, four months from now, I’d like to get back in there.”