Jared Cannonier edges past Sean Strickland in razor close split decision win at UFC Vegas 66

The last UFC event for 2022, UFC Fight Night 216, took place on December 17 and was headlined by a middleweight bout between Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland.

The fight lasted the full 25-minute duration and ended in a split decision victory for 'The Killa Gorilla'.

Both fighters were coming off losses into the fight. Cannonier's last bout was against Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title. The 38-year-old lost the contest via unanimous decision.

Strickland, on the other hand, was coming off a brutal knockout loss against Alex Pereira at UFC 276. Prior to that, 'Tarzan' was riding a six-fight winning streak that included victories over fighters like Uriah Hall and Jack Hermansson.

Both Sean Strickand and Jared Cannonier mostly remained calculated throughout the fight, paying respect to each other's skillset. It was mostly a striking match where Cannonier appeared to land the more impactful shots and was thus handed the victory via split decision.

The three judges scored the contest 49-46, 46-49, 49-46 in favor of 'The Killa Gorilla'.

In his post-fight interview with Paul Felder, Cannonier reflected on the fight and said that according to him, he did enough to be on the right side of the judges' decision:

"I thought I had it 3-to-2. So, I was pretty confident that I won. I did a little bit more damage. We saw the blood on his face from the first round and in the last round. So, I thought I did enough."

Watch the full post-fight octagon interview below:

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Who does Jared Cannonier want to fight next?

In his post-fight interview, Jared Cannonier said that he would prefer to fight for the middleweight title against Alex Pereira in his next UFC outing.

If he is not granted that, he would like a rematch against Israel Adesanya and a matchup against the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa also appealed to 'The Killa Gorilla':

"I would definitely like another title shot, sooner rather than later. But, you know, at this point, I'm ranked number three, I just beat number six, I believe Whittaker and Costa are scheduled to fight next year. Adesanya doesn't have a partner, they haven't scheduled for a rematch [with Pereira] yet. So, anybody above me that would get me to the title fight or the title fight is what we're shooting for."

Adesanya will likely get a rematch against Pereira for the middleweight title. Therefore, Jared Cannonier might have to wait a bit or earn a few more wins in order to fight for the belt again.