Tag: Jared Cannonier

Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic Park star, Chris Pratt has claimed that he is “not a fan” of UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya’s “pitter-patter” approach to recent division title defenses, explaining how he was left underwhelmed by the titleholder’s UFC 276 headliner against Jared Cannonier.

Israel Adesanya, who headlined Saturday’s card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada – managed to successfully land his fifth consecutive defense of the division title against Cannonier, however, was met with a series of boos and jeers from the attending audience, as well as receiving criticism for his performance across social media. 

Teasing a statement-making performance against the Texan challenger during fight week, Adesanya managed to emerge from ‘Sin City’ with his title in two off the back of a unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) win, however, many pointed to the Nigerian-Kiwi’s continued tendency to sit on the outside and more-or-less point fight to an extent, without ever over exerting himself en route to another title retention.

Chris Pratt could not hide his disappointment with Israel Adesanya’s UFC 276 display

A severe critic of Israel Adesanya’s performance and display at UFC 276 comes in the form of popular actor, Pratt, who shared his thoughts on the City Kickboxing striker’s approach on the UFC 276 post-fight show.

“I’m gonna say this as humbly as I can, as a guy who never stepped in the Octagon, I don’t know this game, I’m just an actor,” Chris Pratt said on the UFC 276 post-fight show. “But I’m not a fan, man. I’m not a fan of coming out, like, all that talk and then just kind of putting on a little bit of a pitter-patter.”

“I’m like, ‘Come on, man. Cash on that.’” Chris Pratt explained. “You’ve got to cash that promise of being so badass. If I bet with my money, I would bet (Israel) Adesanya would’ve done something like that. But I was hoping to see (Jared) Cannonier make it.” (Transcribed by BloodyElbow)

Adesanya, who received major plaudits across social media for his Undertaker-themed walkout ahead of his main event clash with Cannonier, has been subsequently linked with a sixth attempted title defense against past kickboxing foe, Alex Pereira next – after the Brazilian stamped his premier professional title shot with a first round thumping of the #4 ranked, Sean Strickland on the main card.