UFC president Dana White is open to having Jared Cannonier serve as the backup for the UFC 248 main event on March 7.
The event will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between current champion Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero. Cannonier was initially scheduled to fight former champion Robert Whittaker on the card.
However, the latter had to pull out for undisclosed personal reasons. There was then talk of Darren Till potentially stepping in to face Cannonier, but that also hasn’t come to fruition with the Liverpool native holding out for the right deal.
As it stands, “The Killa Gorilla” is in limbo and even White is unsure if a fight with Till will take place on the card.
“I have no idea,” White said at the UFC 247 post-fight press conference. “Off the top of my head right here, right now, I don’t know the answer to that question.”
Time is certainly running out as each day passes.
But White was open to having Cannonier serve as the backup for the main event should he not compete on the card. Romero has had a history of missing weight in the past and if that happens again, Cannonier would be in prime position to step in.
“Yeah, yeah,” White replied when asked if he would use Cannonier as the backup.
What do you think of Cannonier being the backup for the UFC 248 main event?