Sean Strickland shocked the MMA world by capturing a unanimous decision victory over Israel Adesanya in the UFC 293 pay-per-view (PPV) main event last weekend in Sydney, blowing open the middleweight division and creating an abundance of fresh matchups.
UFC President CEO Dana White, however, wants an immediate rematch.
Not surprisingly, that didn’t sit well with No. 4-ranked middleweight contender Jared Cannonier, who already defeated Strickland in the UFC Vegas 66 headliner back in late 2022. That’s why the 39 year-old “Killa Gorilla” is calling for a rematch of his own.
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“Hey Dana, f**k the rematch,” Cannonier wrote on White’s Instagram page. “I’ve already beaten your champion let’s do it again. Watch me break another record. I’m better than ever, you’ll see.”
He certainly looked better than ever during this record-setting drubbing.
Cannonier (17-6) has a fairly convincing argument for landing first crack at the 185-pound title, despite coming up short when he challenged Adesanya at UFC 276. But that would require “Killa Gorilla” to leapfrog the winner of Paulo Costa vs. Khamzat Chimaev, who collide at UFC 284 next month in Abu Dhabi.
Good luck with that.