Jared Cannonier put Israel Adesanya in an "unfamiliar territory" by not insulting him, says Chael Sonnen

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Chael Sonnen (left), Israel Adesanya (top right), and Jared Cannonier (bottom right) [Images courtesy of Getty, @stylebender Instagram, and @killagorillamma Instagram]

Chael Sonnen recently stated that Israel Adesanya is in unknown territory at the moment as Jared Cannonier didn't talk trash to him in the build-up to their fight at UFC 276.

Adesanya and Cannonier are set to lock horns in the main event of the UFC 276 pay-per-view with the UFC middleweight title on the line. Cannonier, who is generally calm and composed, didn't try to rile the champion up with his words.

Sonnen believes this puts the champion in an unfamiliar spot as he is used to thriving in the spotlight or when his opponents try to get under his skin. In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, 'The Bad Guy' mentioned that Adesanya's fights have looked lackluster when he is not under pressure:

"If you go and study Izzy Adesanya, you're going to find out 'chip on the shoulder' is an ingredient in every good fight he's had. You wanna look at the closest fights Izzy has ever had, you wanna look at the ones maybe he didn't look like he was going to be a future Hall of Famer, it was his very first fight...We all chalked it up to inexperience. Lack of grappling. Maybe. Or it wasn't a high enough placed match. There wasn't enough media."

'The American Gangster' went on to add that 'The Killa Gorilla' hasn't done too much media. He got the fight by being nice to the champion, which could be to his advantage against an opponent who fights best when riled up:

"Jared Cannonier by doing no media, by getting the fight by being nice to Adesanya, it puts Adesanya in an unfamiliar territory."

Watch Chael Sonnen talk about Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier:

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Israel Adesanya will look to put himself in the middleweight GOAT conversation with a win against Jared Cannonier

Adesanya's accomplishments in the UFC's middleweight division have been nothing short of phenomenal. He is undefeated in the weight class at the moment. He is a longstanding UFC champion and has racked up four title defenses since winning the belt at UFC 243 against Robert Whittaker.

'The Last Stylebender' will look to further stake his claim as the greatest middleweight of all time with a win against 'The Killa Gorilla'. His opponent is in fine form, too, and will enter the contest on the back of a knockout win against Derek Brunson.

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Israel Adesanya is expected to take on the winner of Sean Strickland vs. Alex Pereira next given he gets past Jared Cannonier this weekend at UFC 276.

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