UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has boasted he’s going to beat Jared Cannonier when both clash at UFC 276, despite the dangerous American being his closest rival.
Adesanya and Cannonier will headline UFC 276, which will take place on the night of July 3 in Las Vegas, with the Nigerian looking to successfully defend his middleweight title for a fifth time.
“Jared is a fighter; I call him the dark horse of the division. He was in the heavyweight division, and then moved down to the light heavyweight division, and now he’s in the middleweight division – so he has a lot of power in his hands,” Adesanya said on UFC 276 Countdown.
“Thanks to his skills, he dealt with many people, but many people are not me. Styles make fights, and I’m the Elementalist, so our duel won’t go all the way. He will be choked or knocked out.”
Since making his debut in 2018, ‘The Last Stylebender’ has looked better each time he’s stepped into the Octagon and is still undefeated in the middleweight. He first captured the interim title in the Fight of The Year winner against Kelvin Gastelum in 2019.
‘Izzy’ then defeated Robert Whittaker and unified the titles that same year.
He has successfully defended his title four times since then. On an otherwise perfect record for Adesanya (22-1), his only loss was during his unsuccessful step up to light heavyweight, losing to then-champion Jan Blachowicz.
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