Even though Jared Cannonier lost his last fight, “The Killa Gorilla” is a firm believer that he’s one win away from securing a middleweight title shot.
The American got beat by former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 254 this October. In the build-up of the event, Cannonier was hyped as the next man in line for the champion Israel Adesanya, but “The Reaper” was simply the better man and got the W via UD.
However, Cannonier is still ranked #3 by UFC and his ambition to be a champion is still going strong.
“I expect when I come back to be in a position right where I was,” Cannonier told MMA Junkie of his future plans.
“You know what I’m saying? Right where I left off, one more fight earns me a title shot. Again, that’s the goal, to get that title belt. That belts going to be mine. This is only a bump in the road – a speed bump that I went over a little too fast maybe.”
The middleweight division is packed with hungry talent – Paulo Costa, Darren Till, Uriah Hall and etc., but Cannonier thinks nobody deserves to fight for the belt more than him.
“Of course Costa, Darren Till, all those guys – all those top 10 guys who are making moves to get into the position to get a shot at the title,” Cannonier said. “As you said, Darren Till, Derek Brunson. Uriah Hall is in there. He just had a pretty good win. I just saw he’s been scheduled to fight Chris Weidman. That’s definitely a fight that will get him there. It will definitely get Weidman back in the direction of the title, as well. So, there are a lot of things happening. It’s unfortunate that I’m in the position I am where I have to take a step back yet again. Luckily, this isn’t going to be as long of a recovery.”
