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After a string of fight announcements last week confirming Conor McGregor vs Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 on Jan. 18, 2020, as well as Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 on April 18, 2019, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is looking to lock down a couple more stellar showdowns for 2020.
According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, a Middleweight bout between former division champion, Robert Whittaker, and Jared Cannonier is being discussed for the upcoming UFC 248 pay-per-view (PPV) event, set to go down on March 7, 2020 at a located that has yet-to-be revealed.
Whittaker is coming off a tough knockout loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 (recap), which was his first loss in five years. Prior to the setback, “The Reaper” was sitting on top of the world with nine straight wins, a couple of world titles and wins over Yoel Romero (twice), Derek Brunson and Ronaldo Souza. Now, Robert will look to get back on the winning track on his quest to recapturing UFC gold.
Cannonier, meanwhile, is the proud owner of three straight knockout wins over David Branch, Anderson Silva and Jack Hermansson, good enough to secure him the No. 4 spot on the official UFC rankings. A win over Whittaker could be just what “The Killa Gorilla” needs to finally punch his ticket to the big dance.
The only potential road block could be Robert’s desire to face Darren Till in London.
Also, a fight between top Light Heavyweight contender, Johnny Walker, and Ukranian wrecking machine, Nikita Krylov, is being discussed to go down at UFC Fight Night 169 on March 14, 2020 in Brasilia, Brazil.
Walker is coming off a knockout loss to Corey Anderson at UFC 244 (see it), which snapped his nine fight win streak and perfect run thus far inside the Octagon. It also halted his championship dreams, though it didn’t do much to shift his focus away from Jon Jones.
Krylov, meanwhile, will demand all of Johnny’s attention should this fight come to pass, as he has shown to provide plenty of challenges inside the Octagon. While his current run inside the Octagon has seen him go just 1-2, he was 6-3 inside the eight-sided cage during his first run, which includes win over Walt Harris and Ed Herman.