Cannonier Set To Fight Adesanya At UFC 276 In July

Jared Cannonier will finally have his shot at Israel Adesanya and the middleweight championship when the pair clash in the main event of UFC 276 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the morning of Sunday 3 July.

Adesanya (22-1) remains unbeaten at middleweight (his only defeat was against Jan Blachowicz at light heavyweight) and most recently put up a fourth straight successful defence of his championship when he beat Robert Whittaker via unanimous decision at UFC 271 in February of this year.

The 32-year-old Nigerian-born ‘Last Stylebender’ is seemingly peerless at middleweight, but Cannonier (15-5) will be hoping for a major upset. The 38-year-old ‘Killa Gorilla’ from Texas has won five of his last six matches, most recently putting down Derek Brunson with an impressive second-round knockout to earn this shot at the belt.

Whittaker, who has fought both men in the recent past, believes Cannonier could spring a surprise in this main event.

“I think Jared's definitely got a chance,” explained Whittaker, who handed Cannonier his only defeat in the past four years. “He's an absolute killer and you can see in the fights that he's been in that he's the type of guy that'll go out on his shield.

“That's a dangerous guy... but if you have to look at this stylistically on paper, Adesanya is just fast and rangy, and will be able to keep him at the end of his jab - that's what I did to Jared. I stayed away, played on the outside... and that's Adesanya's fight game.”