Jared Cannonier faces Robert Whittaker at UFC 254 but he still had a ton of praise for Khamzat Chimaev
Jared Cannonier faces his toughest test in the UFC Middleweight division as he faces Robert Whittaker at UFC 254.
Whittaker is a former champion in the Middleweight division while Cannonier is yet to taste defeat since moving to this weight class.
Cannonier seems to be enjoying his time at Fight Island as he recently posted about the dates and tea available in the hotel.
The 36-year-old claimed he had time to learn about himself during a year off from the UFC. He was speaking to Helen Yee and asked about the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev too.
The Swede is 9-0 in his MMA career and has won all his fights in exceptional fashion too. Cannonier believed that Chimaev was the real deal and had seen a few of his fights as well:
“I saw one of his fights, John Phillips, actually, I saw his fight against Gerald Meerschaert as well. He definitely looks like a force in the Octagon.
“He is very domineering, has a dominant presence and we haven’t really seen much in his three fights in the Octagon.
“I saw a right hand and something to learn from. It is very good seeing his energy in there you know. It is very exciting, he’s in there to do some damage apparently. He wants to smash everybody, so good luck.”
Not surprise at Izzy vs Costa
While Cannonier could get a shot at Israel Adesanya if he beats Whittaker, the Killa Gorilla shed some light on UFC 253.
Israel Adesanya defended his gold against Paulo Costa in stunning fashion. The Brazilian barely touched the champion and Adesanya put on quite a show.
Cannonier wasn’t surprised at the result and questioned Costa’s tactics:
“I expected Izzy to do that. As we all know, Costa’s style is pressure, going forward throwing big shots and stuff and I know that doing that against a seasoned striker like Israel isn’t going to end well.
“He didn’t necessarily employ that game plan but he didn’t move around much either. He just stood there in front of him and let Izzy throw his shots and let him get comfortable and didn’t do much of anything.
“I expected him to try and take Izzy down and use his black belt and jiu jitsu. He made it a point to let him know that he was a black belt at weigh-ins and we all saw how that played out.
“I am not sure why he didn’t run his game plan as he wanted to.”
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