Jared Cannonier — the #3 ranked UFC middleweight — believes his next fight could be for the 185 lb. title against Israel Adesanya, that is IF he can secure a dominating win over Kelvin Gastelum Saturday night.
37-year-old Cannonier ahead of his UFC Fight Night scrap with Gastelum … and we asked him if he believed beating Kelvin could catapult him past Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa in the rankings — and set him up for a fight with Izzy.
“It definitely can, given the state of the division. You know, there’s only one clear-cut contender outside of Robert, you know, well there’s two. You know, me, Paulo, and then all the other up-and-coming guys,” Jared says.
Cannonier continued … “But, so you know, that top 3. Me, Paulo, and Robert. So, winning over Kelvin, I’m sure a dominant win over Kelvin, would definitely send that message, ‘Hey give this guy a title shot.'”
JC is a beast in the Octagon … with wins over the legendary Anderson Silva and Jack Hermansson.
We also talked to 29-year-old Gastelum — the #9 ranked middleweight (Kelvin doesn’t agree with his ranking) — and he also believes a win over Cannonier would put him right back in title contention.
Of course, outside of Jan Blachowicz, Gastelum gave Adesanya his toughest fight back in April 2019 … and that’s a fight Kelvin would LOVE to run back.
