The UFC Middleweight division is in an odd place.
Nobody expected Sean Strickland to dethrone Israel Adesanya and become weirdly popular (despite his mostly boring fighting style). Fewer still would have predicted Dricus Du Plessis rise to the top of the ranks even just a couple years ago. The South African has been a complete surprise, but he’s put together a remarkable win streak and become a deserving champion.
Despite the weirdness of it all, there’s lots of pay-per-view (PPV) worthy main events to be made at 185-pounds. Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya is seemingly next up, and there are several compelling storylines to consider. There’s bad blood, the question of whether “Stylebender” can rise again, and the exciting clash of styles that is a forward charging berserker vs. elite counter fighter.
It’s a good main event. That’s why people wanted it to top UFC 300!
Strickland himself is right back in the title mix as well, following his clear-cut decision victory over Paulo Costa last weekend at UFC 302. Rematches with either Du Plessis or Adesanya would be huge affairs, some of the biggest options for a non-McGregor PPV main event in 2024.
Finally, there’s Khamzat Chimaev. The Russian super talent is still undefeated, and he’s still climbing the ranks. His “SMASH EVERYONE” routine has grown a little stale as his time on the bench has grown more lengthy, but “Borz” is still widely viewed as a future champion and remains a massive name. He’s just a few weeks away from meeting Robert Whittaker in the biggest test of his professional career, and if victorious, a title shot would be fairly undeniable.
Between Du Plessis, Adesanya, Strickland, and Khamzat, there’s recipes for several very high-profile and lucrative PPV main events. The problem is that none of those marquee match ups involve Jared Cannonier, and “The Killa Gorilla” is probably the most deserving contender at 185 lbs. right now.
Cannonier has won two in a row, four of his last five, and his only defeat in the last three years came to Israel Adesanya. The specifics of those two wins are important: Cannonier beat Sean Strickland immediately before his title run, then he followed it up by beating the absolute soul out of Marvin Vettori in the all-time best performance of his career. He didn’t knock out the brick-headed Italian, but he battered him from pillar-to-post in a performance so dominant it was hard to watch.
That’s better than split-decisioning Costa in a snoozer. It’s more deserving of a title eliminator than a majority decision over short-notice Welterweight Kamaru Usman. Yet, instead of being rewarded for his success, Cannonier is being sidelined. He’s forced to fight down the rankings against Nassourdine Imavov, mostly just to keep him occupied and out of the way of the aforementioned big name title fights.
UFC forcing contenders to go through additional fights in favor of stars isn’t new — look at Belal Muhammad! The difference here is that Cannonier doesn’t fight like “Remember The Name.” He’s a knockout artist, consistently entertaining and vicious in the Octagon. Put him in the cage versus Du Plessis tomorrow, and I personally guarantee blood and a stoppage win … for somebody. It would be an intriguing match up that could go either way!
It’s not happening any time soon though. At 40 years of age, Cannonier has to wait for at least one, if not two title shots before he can earn his own. There’s every chance he ages out of contention, either this weekend in Louisville or a year down the line. His success and athleticism at his age are already remarkable, but we eventually saw the seemingly immortal Yoel Romero drop off.
It’ll happen to Cannonier too, and it would be a real shame if he doesn’t get another chance at gold before then.