After two straight losses, Jared Cannonier needed change. He just didn’t realize it at the time.
“Even after the two losses, I was still thinking light heavyweight title,” Cannonier told Sporting News about his state of mind following back-to-back defeats against Jan Blachowicz in December 2017 and Dominick Reyes in May 2018.
But soon thereafter, he moved to Arizona, the weight started coming off his 5-11 frame and that’s when the hunch hit him.
“As the weight went down, I said ‘I might as well be 185 (pounds) and have a better chance of getting there,” he says, “so, here I am.”
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Cannonier dropping down to middleweight has been a resuscitation of his career thus far, as he has produced two straight TKOs following those stinging two losses. He’ll see if he could turn this recent glimmer into full-blown daylight Saturday when he takes on Jack Hermansson in the main event of “UFC Fight Night 160” at Royal Arena in Baltimore, MD. in what figures to be his stiffest test to date at 185 pounds.
“He’s a good grappler, he’s aggressive, and he’s a Top 5 middleweight,” Cannonier (12-4) says of Hermansson (20-4). “When you start hitting the Top 5 in any division in the UFC, those guys are super well-rounded, they’re good everywhere. Not to discredit or look past him or anything, but my focus is rarely on my opponent and it’s mostly on myself.”
While we'll see if “The Killa Gorilla” can keep the momentum going in his new digs, one thing’s for sure: Cannonier believes he shouldn’t have ever started his career at heavyweight. It’s not that he regrets having his first nine bouts at the beefiest division. It’s more that the 35-year-old veteran is able to look back with honest hindsight.
“Anybody who knows me knows I should not have been in the UFC heavyweight division,” he says bluntly. “I’m not a heavyweight, I was never a heavyweight. Even at light heavyweight, those guys are f—g huge. I’ve never seen myself as a big guy, I’ve never carried myself as a big guy, I don’t move around like a big guy. I never thought of myself as a big guy. I’ve always thought of myself as a guy who could fight. And I could fight any- and everybody.”
Cannonier says that for the time being he’s making 185 pounds comfortably and will remain in the division as long as that continues. He has already made impact as a middleweight, scoring a second-round TKO over David Branch last November in his division debut and using a leg kick to make sure that Anderson Silva wasn’t able to continue in a first-round TKO in the MMA legend’s home country of Brazil this past May.
Cannonier insists that he has improved since then.
“I’m a different fighter than I was, even when I fought Anderson,” he offers. “I’m well ahead of that guy who you saw last time out. In every fight, I feel like I’ve got better, especially since moving down. The progression, it has only gotten better. So, I’m a better fighter and you guys are going to see that.”
Against Hermansson, Cannonier plans to put the middleweights on further notice of his presence.
“Everyone’s talking about [Paulo] Costa is No. 1 contender. I don’t think so based off his last performance,” Cannonier says. “I wouldn’t say it was a bad performance, but he didn’t win emphatically.
“I’m going to finish Jack Hermansson,” he confidently boasts. “We’re not going to go five rounds. Either he finishes me or I finish him. I don’t get paid enough to fight for 30 minutes.”
“One thing I do know is Dana [White] loves that s—t,” Cannonier adds, referring to the UFC president being a fan of explosive finishes. “And if he sees a [knockout], he’s going to give me a title shot after this. And I’m ready for it.”
