As ‘The Last Stylebender’ seemed impressed with his old foe’s recent feats

First cut is the deepest: But Adesanya vs Cannonier 2 can still happen

By Ed Emeanua

In a tale of two fighters on same war path to glory, one of them-Jared Cannonier-now has the other on his radar following recent feats; the other-Israel Adesanya-a rather pretty short reaction to his former vanquished foe’s recent performance against Marvin Vettori.

After securing the second of his now two-fight win streak over the weekend, Jared Cannonier foresees just two open choices in his next Octagon appearance consideration. It is either one more crack at the Stylebender’s title or another likely Number one contender to the title chase down with a fighter ranked above him.

Adesanya, the reigning undisputed middleweight champion and two-time UFC title holder, climaxed his initial championship hold-down with an undisputed decision victory against Cannonier in July of 2022, before losing his gold to Alex Pereira last November.

Something the ‘Last Stylebender is willing to reveal over his new thoughts for Cannonier following his foes victory over Vettori is a mixed reaction of subdued perplexity that can also be interpreted as being impressed.

Dismissing a likely showdown with the undefeated welterweight contender, Khamzat Chimaev – except a fight with the Chechen fetches him a title shot, Cannonier’s performance against Vettori seemed to shock former opponent, Israel Adesanya, who could only tweet, “bro” at the end of UFC Vegas 75 fight.

Bro…

— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) June 18, 2023

Cannonier currently sits at No. 4 behind Robert Whittaker, Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya. ‘Po Atan’ is out of contention having vacated the division he is leaving the ‘Reaper’ and the ‘Last Stylebender’. Whittaker is already billed for his No. 1 contender bout against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290, with the winner expected to get the next shot at Adesanya.

Should Cannonier leapfrog Vettori when the rankings is updated, Cannonier would only occupy the No. 3 spot behind Whittaker, Pereira and Adesanya. Cannonier is only concerned that his name is among the next opportunities the UFC may consider to go up against Adesanya.

“The way I see the immediate future going is Robert is going to fight Dricus, I know Israel wants to fight Dricus so bad, but I feel with my performance, as far as the guys who make that decision go, I’m sure that puts my name well up there in that area,” said Cannonier at his post-fight press conference.

“I’m not really concerning myself with what may or may not be. I’m just going to focus on the next fight. I’m going to get back in the gym and get back to making myself better, get back to improving on my skills and worry about the next fight.”