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Jared Cannonier was originally scheduled to face former Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 248. However, Whittaker pulled out for personal reasons and UFC tried to book Darren Till as his replacement. That didn't work out due to visa issues, following which Cannonier revealed that he had suffered an injury himself.
Despite that, he was a keen observer of the UFC 248 main event between Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero. Speaking to Submission Radio (H/T MMAJunkie), Cannonier said that he didn't boo the fighters at all.
“I was just downloading every bit right there, and I feel like I’m a better fighter after watching those two fight. … You can say they respected each other too much or they employed a little too much caution – to the fans’ detriment, but not to mine.”
He admitted that he expected a more exciting fight and explained why Yoel Romero didn't come close to winning.
“I thought it was going to be a little bit more exciting, but what we saw happen, what happened, was what I thought was going to happen. I said that if we see Romero do what Romero has done in his last couple of fights, which is back away, wait around and stand in front of his opponent and try to explode at the perfect moment, then ‘Izzy’ is going to be able to snipe him from afar, pick him apart and run his game.
He didn't place any blame on Adesanya though, whom he felt 'technically' won the fight.
I’m not going to say he won that fight, even though technically he won that fight, but I would say he did enough to retain the title. And that’s kind of like what he was saying at the end. He was saying ‘I’m going to do what I’ve got to do.'
When asked about his next opponent, Cannonier said that it's going to be against the person that gets him a title shot and even hinted at the possibility of it being Yoel Romero. His message was clear - one more fight followed by a title shot.
Given that Cannonier tore his pectoral muscle, he could be out for a while. His original opponent Robert Whittaker is slated to go up against Darren Till in the main event of UFC Dublin on August 15th.
As of now, a fight against Romero is the only one that makes sense. Romero's manager said that the Soldier of God will be ready in 12 weeks, which is still sooner than Cannonier is expected to return. However, it's a fight that would cement Cannonier as the next in line for a title shot should he win.
Meanwhile, Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa are expected to have a title fight in the fourth quarter of 2020.
