Jared Cannonier should get a title shot against the winner of Israel Adesanya vs Paulo Costa

Jared Cannonier is one of those fighters who can catch his opponents in a blink of an eye. What’s even scarier is the thought that the current middleweight fighter once used to fight in the heavyweight division of the UFC.

That makes him a unicorn of the sport, where fighters usually prefer going up a weight class rather than put themselves in agony to cut more weight. But Jared Cannonier, who served in the U.S. Army, is a man of discipline and considers himself as a realist.

That makes Jared Cannonier a dangerous entity for the winner of Israel Adesanya vs Paulo Costa. This is a man who has lost over 100 pounds in his pursuit of MMA excellence in the last decade, and that shows a mentality of a man hell-bent on fulfilling what he set out to do against what many would consider tough if not impossible.

Jared Cannonier’s run as one of the middleweight’s elite truly started when he ended up breaking Anderson Silva’s right leg back at UFC 237. “The Killa Gorilla” had KO’d David Branch before his fight with Silva, but nothing brings as much attention on a fighter as going up against one of the G.O.A.T.s in the game.

Jared Cannonier broke Anderson Silva's leg to announce himself as one of middleweights top contenders.

Those who still doubted Jared Cannonier’s ability to rise to the top of the middleweight rankings would look foolish after he KO’d Jack Hermansson, another rising contender in the division. Three straight fights in the middleweight division have seen Cannonier dominate everyone he’s faced impressively.

Hermansson himself has nothing but respect for the work the Dallas native has done throughout his middleweight tenure with the Swede, suggesting in his post-fight interview last week that Cannonier deserves to be the next in line for a title shot. But this is the UFC and they usually make fights on not who “deserves” it the most but rather who is available.

Tony Ferguson remained a perennial contender in the lightweight division for years, but sadly never saw the stars align for him correctly. Leon Edwards is another case in point, the Brit has won eight fights in a row at welterweight but finding his plans hampered by the current pandemic.

While Jared Cannonier has won just three fights compared to the streaks the aforementioned fighters found themselves on, no one looks more deserving of a title shot in the top 10 of the middleweight rankings. Current champion Israel Adesanya termed “the Killa Gorilla” as a dark horse of the division in his second appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, and you got to say he has got that nailed on.

Israel Adesanya has been admiring Jared Cannonier's work from a distance.

“The Style Bender” has dazzled during his run in the UFC with his style of fighting, but Cannonier’s power could be a huge thorn in his path to victory if he can overcome Paulo Costa at UFC 253. Jared Cannonier also fights in a measured way for someone who has such power in his hands, waiting for openings rather than engaging in "war" like title challenger Paulo Costa.

Stylistically, Paulo Costa should be a much easier fight for Cannonier as the Brazilian’s propensity to lunge in with power shots would play into his hands. Jared Cannonier is no one-trick pony as well and his leg kicks are a thing of terror as Anderson Silva will tell you.

This all makes Jared Cannonier one of the most intriguing middleweight prospects the UFC has had in a long time. Cannonier has been outsized by most of his opponents for almost his entire MMA career but middleweight has been more of “a level playing ground”.