Middleweight contender Jared Cannonier feels he’s a better fighter than both Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero.
Adesanya successfully defended his middleweight title against Romero after an underwhelming five-round affair with little action in the UFC 248 headliner. While most complained about the nature of the fight, Cannonier took a lot away from the 25-minute encounter:
“I’m potentially one of the guys’ opponents, so I’m watching with more of a keen eye,” Cannonier told Submission Radio. “But everyone else was upset, felt disappointed, but me being a martial artist, I understand that this kind of thing can happen. And again, I was just downloading every bit, all five rounds, I was just downloading every bit right there, and I feel like I’m a better fighter after watching those two fight.
“… Izzy did enough to retain his title, so congratulations to him. Yoel did what I thought he was gonna do, you know, sit back and wait for that big moment. And to be honest with you, he did explode. He exploded at the perfect time. When he exploded, Izzy had nothing for him. He couldn’t do nothing but get the hell out of there, you know what I’m saying, get the f*ck away. He wasn’t even trying to counter or anything. Most guys, he’s trying to counter. He’ll counter you while his opponents on the end, he’s trying to counter, and after he moves out he’s trying to counter. He wasn’t doing none of that when Yoel was exploding, doing his thing. You can say they respected each other too much or they employed a little too much caution. To the fans detriment, but not to mine.”
With Paulo Costa challenging for the middleweight title next, Cannonier — who is recovering from a torn pectoral muscle — could be next in line with one more win. He doesn’t care who the opponent is as long as he is guaranteed a title shot.
That includes facing Romero.
“I’ll fight any of them that will get me a title shot, right? It doesn’t matter who it is,” Cannonier added. “Everybody’s saying nobody’s calling out Yoel. I say, anybody ahead of me who gives me a title shot. Anybody. It includes Yoel. It includes anybody ahead of me that gets me a title shot, or anybody behind me that gets me a title shot.
“One fight, then a title shot. Because I’m beating anybody you put in front of me.”
What do you make of Cannonier’s comments?